Williams F1 Team Principal James Vowles recently evaluated their 2026 campaign by answering questions about the Hungarian Grand Prix on Williams’ YouTube channel.
Despite starting the season with much more optimism compared to previous years, Williams reached the summer break in ninth place in the Constructors’ Championship with 11 points. This marked a painful regression for a team that finished the 2025 season as the leader of the midfield in fifth.
During the first half of the season, Williams’ FW48 has proven to be slow. The team missed the Barcelona shakedown and started the year with an overweight car. Both Alex Albon and his teammate Carlos Sainz wrestled with the FW48’s unpredictable balance and sensitivity.
With the first half of the season in the rear view mirror, James Vowles offered an evaluation of their developmental trajectory and the possible shift in focus toward next year’s project.
Williams will bring updates but they will not be a massive step like Aston Martin
Among the questions, one asked whether Williams’ upgrades can keep pace with Aston Martin’s recent progress.
Aston Martin arrived at the 2026 F1 Hungarian GP with a massive 16-part aerodynamic upgrade and weight-loss package. Since the weekend at the Hungaroring, the Silverstone-based team’s recent developmental leap has been a major talking point along the grid, specifically among the midfield teams, directly affecting Williams’ position.
Vowles acknowledged the significant threat posed by Aston Martin while assessing the current competitive landscape of the grid. The British executive confirmed that they are also preparing their own updates. However, the timeline and ultimate impact of these updates remain heavily tempered by Williams’ long-term vision for next year, as well as their current limitations.
“The second main point to be discussed is Aston Martin. Aston obviously brought a very large upgrade in the form of a much lighter car and a car that’s been aerodynamically upgraded.
“And obviously we have a package but it’s not coming till later in the year and more importantly it’s more about focus on getting the foundations right for next year. So there’s a question asked where we’re going to be when it all checks out.
“There’s an element of Budapest that doesn’t suit our car that we need to be aware of. There’s an element of Budapest that actually neutralises power differences between the cars.“
Priorities set to take learnings from FW48 struggles
In his responses, Vowles admitted that what they will bring an update to the FW48 for Baku might not be adequate to immediately put them in the points zone. He stated that Williams’ true priority currently lies in diagnosing the core issues that have plagued the car all season.
“However what I can say is the Baku upgrade will not be enough to put us in a point scoring position regularly. And that’s what we need to review and understand what else we can do this season.
“But mainly for me it’s about understanding what went wrong this winter. We have some pretty nasty characteristics in these cars. What can we fix in this period of time? Because what can’t happen is we go into next year still carrying the burden that was 2026.“
Williams already works on the 2027’s challenger
Vowles confirmed that they have already started focusing on the development of next season’s challenger. Nevertheless, the British executive emphasised that before fully integrating their program into the next cycle, Williams must first get to the bottom of all the problems with the FW48.
“So it is a second question or a second topic really about when do you start focussing on next year. That’s already happening to a certain extent but what I want to make sure we do is bottom out all of the issues with this year’s car.
“Part of it is we’re not developing at the right rate. Part of it is we have some balance and characteristic issues. Part of it is some mistakes in the winter we need to make sure that never make it to track are fixed behind the scenes.“
Vowles acknowledges that progress takes time
According to Vowles, Williams is currently paying the price for years of underinvestment in their infrastructure. Embracing a realistic approach, Vowles sees fixing the FW48’s issues as a journey and acknowledges that it will take time, perhaps longer than initially imagined.
Nevertheless, he assured that Williams has the will and talent to progress.
“We’re in a strange position where we got very exposed this winter. We have many many years where we haven’t been able to build up our facilities to the level it needs to be. And what cost cap does is it constrains you. So we are dedicating a lot of resource to making sure we are fixing those problems behind the scenes rather than bringing performance to the car in the current year.
“Clearly this winter showed that we have a long way to go. There’s a lot more that we need to address and fix. And it’s not the work of moments. It’s not the work of a month or two months. It will take time to get there. Our commitment to you is we will. We are on this journey to make sure that we keep stepping forward.
“Last year what we demonstrated is in a consistent rule set where there aren’t as many variables to deal with we can perform reasonably well. What we now need to get back to is when the world is changing around you dynamically that we can still do a similar level and quality of work.“
