Williams completed a largely uneventful Friday of practice at the 2026 F1 São Paulo GP, continuing to use the sessions as a learning opportunity for both the team and its drivers, Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz. Despite struggling for outright competitiveness, the Grove-based outfit focused on gathering valuable information about its FW48 and supporting preparations for the 2027 season.
Williams headed into the weekend with Albon and reserve driver Luke Browning, who completed his fourth rookie FP1 appearance of the season. Albon finished the opening session in 16th after his car came to a halt, just ahead of Browning in 17th.
Sainz subsequently returned to the cockpit for FP2, joining Albon as the pair completed their planned programme under increasingly overcast conditions. Together, the Williams drivers completed 70 laps before concluding the session in 17th and 19th, respectively.
Friday practice in line with Williams’ expectations
Following Friday’s practice sessions, Williams Technical Director for Engineering Matt Harman explained that the team’s performance was largely in line with its expectations ahead of the São Paulo GP. Although Albon encountered a technical problem during FP1, Williams quickly identified the issue and continued its planned running.
Harman also highlighted the interesting characteristics that emerged during FP2 as temperatures dropped and wind conditions changed. These variations allowed the team to evaluate the FW48’s behaviour under different conditions while continuing development work for next season.
“Pretty much in line. I mean, obviously we had that little bit of a delay in FP1 with Alex, but we got to the bottom of that pretty quickly.
“Generally speaking, it’s a very interesting start to the end of session here. It’s quite a different condition this last FP2 here.
“We just started to see some things, and as the track started to cool and the aerodynamics started to move around a bit with the wind, we started to actually see some interesting characteristics on the car.
“So, that was quite good. Trying some things for next year as we always do in the background.”
Williams using remaining 2026 F1 sessions to prepare for 2027
Considering Williams’ disappointing level of competitiveness throughout the 2026 season, Harman explained that the team’s main priority is to extract as much information as possible from the remaining race weekends.
Rather than concentrating solely on immediate performance, Williams has been using its practice programmes to experiment with different systems, processes and development approaches. The information gathered will contribute directly to its preparations for the 2027 challenger, the FW50.
“I mean, we know where we are in this season. We’re treating every session like a learning opportunity.
“We do a lot of development in the background. We’re trying new things, but not just physical hardware on the car, but also systems and processes, and challenging the risk that we take to see what the responses are. So yeah, 100%.
“It’s important that we extract what we can from the last few races, and that is really going to be about FW50 learning.”
The approach reflects Williams’ determination to learn from a challenging campaign and improve its development processes, particularly after Sainz and Albon committed to continuing with the team in 2027.
Harman outlines Williams’ key areas of development
Detailing the team’s technical priorities, Harman explained that Williams has been taking a more aggressive approach to exploring the FW48’s operating window. This includes experimenting with control strategies, cooling and other aspects of the car’s performance to better understand its behaviour under different conditions.
The information also helps Williams compare its findings on track with the simulation models used at the factory. By pushing the car closer to the limits of its operating window, the team hopes to improve the correlation between its development tools and real-world performance.
“Some of the ways in which we react to some issues on the car, some of the control strategies and things that we do, we’re trying to make sure that we take an aggressive approach to that. It’s important.
“We’re pushing the envelope of the car where we run it, which is away from us, and some things on the cooling and bits and pieces like that.
“We’re trying to exercise a little bit more aggression in the car, and that serves us well, not just for what you see here today, but for the correlation of our models back at the factory.
“Do you know we’re on a very big journey to accelerate our tools and our processes back at the factory for actually designing what operates in the car, and you need to exercise the envelope.
“It’s very easy to be in the middle of the model, but we need to be trying to get to the edges, and that’s what we’re doing.”
Sainz reflects on tricky FP2 at the 2026 São Paulo GP
After handing over the FW48 to Williams reserve driver Browning for FP1, Sainz returned to the cockpit for the afternoon session. Although the Spaniard acknowledged that missing the opening practice session was not ideal, he supported the decision to give Browning another opportunity to gain experience in Formula 1 machinery.
Sainz described FP2 as challenging, particularly because of the low temperatures at Interlagos. He struggled to generate sufficient temperature in the front tyres during his opening stint on the hard compound, which made the car susceptible to front locking. However, he gradually found a better rhythm after switching to the soft tyres, eventually finishing 17th.
“I guess missing FP1 is never ideal, but I’m going to be anyway very mileage-limited this weekend, so it’s better to give up FP1 for Luke there, even though he couldn’t do many laps.
“Tricky FP2 with the low temperatures today, bit of a strange Brazil, it was quite cold out there on the front tyres, easy to front-lock, so it took a bit of time to get used to that.
“But then, did an OK lap on the soft, an OK long run, and just about got into a rhythm there at the end of the session.”
Sainz believes testing offers valuable lessons for Williams
Williams currently sits ninth in the Constructors’ Championship, having fallen considerably short of its expectations heading into the 2026 season. With limited opportunities to fight for points, the team has increasingly used practice sessions to test different setups and gather information for future development.
Asked whether the extensive testing provided useful insights or was simply an attempt to make the most of a difficult situation, Sainz acknowledged that the latter was closer to the truth.
“I would say more the second.”
Nevertheless, the Spaniard believes the experiments remain valuable, both for his understanding of the FW48 and for Williams’ efforts to improve its simulation models. Larger setup changes allow him to assess how closely the car’s actual behaviour matches the team’s expectations.
“I think we are also doing proper set-up test experiments, also for my knowledge and experience of the car and the team.
“How big the changes feel, and try to do a bit of correlation work with the simulator: what the car does in real life versus what it does in the simulator, what it does versus our models, and what the model is expecting to do.
“So, as a driver, once there is nothing to fight for like there is right now, there is always experience and learning that you can do with doing big test items, because normally in F1, testing is super limited.”
Sainz prioritises learning over finishing positions
Given Williams’ lack of competitiveness during the 2026 season, Sainz believes the team should prioritise gathering information that could improve its performance in 2027 rather than focusing exclusively on small gains in its current finishing positions.
The Spaniard has made his commitment to Williams’ longer-term development clear, having previously discussed his reasons for remaining with the team despite the setbacks experienced this season.
For Sainz, the remaining race weekends provide opportunities to learn more about the car, its systems and the team’s development processes.
“I am, and I told the team that I don’t care about finishing 15th or 17th, it’s more how much can I learn, how much can they learn, in order to get myself and the team and the car in a better place for next year.”
Browning completes fourth rookie FP1 appearance of 2026
Following previous practice appearances during the season, Williams reserve driver Luke Browning returned to the cockpit for his fourth rookie FP1 outing of 2026 at Interlagos.
The British driver completed 12 laps during the opening practice session, finishing 17th. Although his running was limited, Browning confirmed that the programme had been agreed with Williams beforehand and that he had completed the team’s planned objectives.
“It was just part of my run plan with the team. It was just something we discussed within the team that I was going to do the run plan that I did, and we got everything ticked off that needed to be done, so it was nice.”
Browning also enjoyed his first experience of the historic Autódromo José Carlos Pace, recalling watching Lewis Hamilton secure his maiden Formula 1 World Championship at the circuit in 2008.
“I remember watching Hamilton obviously win his first championship here, so it’s pretty cool to drive up the line, up the hill there, and well, I didn’t quite take the chequered flag, but it was awesome to go and break into Turn 1. I really enjoyed it. It was good.”
The 2023 Macau GP winner added that his experience behind the wheel had largely matched the expectations established during his simulator preparations.
“I think as expected, very much from what we experienced in the simulator, and everything went according to plan.
“So, we’ll just continue trying our development rate and see where we go.”
Albon: Williams still searching for the right balance
Albon also acknowledged that Williams had yet to find the right balance for the FW48 during Friday’s practice sessions. The Thai driver endured a disrupted FP1 after a technical issue brought his running to an early conclusion, although he returned to the circuit for FP2.
Despite completing further laps during the afternoon, Albon continued struggling with the car’s handling and finished 19th. Williams will therefore use the remaining sessions to evaluate potential setup changes and identify areas for improvement.
In a statement released by Williams following Friday’s running, Albon explained that the car had demonstrated inconsistent behaviour throughout the day.
“We’re trying to find the middle ground with the car, and sometimes the car has felt good, and other times there’s a lot of work to do.
“We haven’t quite found the balance yet, so it’s been tricky out there. We’ll use the rest of the weekend as an opportunity to come up with some ideas and look at where we can improve.”
