2026 Atlassian Williams F1 Team

[Badger]

Williams has passed the Crash test

To do so, they had to add many kilos to the car

As they were reporting yesterday on SoyMotor, it could be 20-30kg of overweight

@Auto_Racer_it
https://x.com/Nachez98/status/2016089679385227522

[basti313]

So why are they not in Barcelona? If they managed to pass the test, they could run tomorrow? Seems there is more than just the crash test.

[ScottB]

Given there are Williams trucks at the track, and even a built up hospitality unit was visible briefly in the video F1 put out last night, feels like this may have been a relatively late call not to test? Them just being overweight doesn't seem a reason not to run the car.

[bigblue]

As they were reporting yesterday on SoyMotor, it could be 20-30kg of overweight
Yeah right, what did they reinforce it with, depleted Uranium?

[dren]

As they were reporting yesterday on SoyMotor, it could be 20-30kg of overweight
Yeah right, what did they reinforce it with, depleted Uranium?

lol no ---, there is no way they added that much weight to the nose to pass a crash test. Without knowing a thing, I'll speculate: they might have pushed development a tad too far and or they don't have the manufacturing ability to make something that passed FEA but was on tight margins.

With that being said, I do expect Williams to be more competitive through these regs.

[edu2703]

More signs of trouble. Also expect a showcar instead of the FW48.

[Jambier]

Clearly they are not ready, maybe because or crash test or something.

We can expect them to have trouble during the first races.
But season is long so...

[continuum16]

I don't get the point of them even doing a livery launch at this point. All people will do is speculate wildly about what the hell has happened. And making it a virtual event is clearly them sidestepping having to answer why they are absent. So they are almost certainly not going to tell us.

Also, as others have noted, it seems like they sent their hospitality and some equipment to Barcelona based on the F1TV recap videos, so it must have been very last minute for them to decide not to test.

To me, this says the crash test theory is not correct, because those kinds of things are known months in advance; even taking into account a failure or two. It's definitely possible that they have had an extraordinary amount of trouble passing them, but seems unlikely if they really did start as early as they said they did. I don't have any insider information or anything but the theory of the chassis accidentally being cracked or otherwise damaged during assembly seems more plausible to me. I wonder if this will lead to them being exceptionally light on spares like in 2024. If so, this is beyond egg-on-face territory. We're talking at least a whole omelette.

[AR3-GP]

I don't get the point of them even doing a livery launch at this point. All people will do is speculate wildly about what the hell has happened. And making it a virtual event is clearly them sidestepping having to answer why they are absent.

You've answered your own question, no?

To me, this says the crash test theory is not correct, because those kinds of things are known months in advance; even taking into account a failure or two. It's definitely possible that they have had an extraordinary amount of trouble passing them, but seems unlikely if they really did start as early as they said they did. I don't have any insider information or anything but the theory of the chassis accidentally being cracked or otherwise damaged during assembly seems more plausible to me. I wonder if this will lead to them being exceptionally light on spares like in 2024. If so, this is beyond egg-on-face territory. We're talking at least a whole omelette.

Williams might have started early, but so did Audi. When you lack the best infrastructure, tools, methodologies, and the right leaders then its not going to matter how early you start. I liked the analogy that Binotto made. He said that compared to Ferrari, working at the current Sauber was "a different sport".

[continuum16]

I don't get the point of them even doing a livery launch at this point. All people will do is speculate wildly about what the hell has happened. And making it a virtual event is clearly them sidestepping having to answer why they are absent.

You've answered your own question, no?

I guess so. I'm just saying why even have an event at all; just lay low if they are really in damage control. Drawing attention to yourself voluntarily seems like an interesting PR tactic to say the least. It's not like they didn't already announce their testing livery anyways. If it were me I would just wait until the week of Melbourne at this rate; it's gonna be a blue car that says Atlassian on it; they aren't exactly gonna reveal anything earth-shattering.

maybe just chassis-shattering

[WardenOfTheNorth]

Perhaps they have contractual requirements with sponsors to have a reveal on that day, so can't just wait until Melbourne?

[ScottB]

Perhaps they have contractual requirements with sponsors to have a reveal on that day, so can't just wait until Melbourne?

I assume the original intent was to run the fan selected camo livery in Barcelona, then launch the real car / livery, and have that on the car in Bahrain.

They may well have sponsor involvement in that process, but then, going from an in person event, presumably with folk from those companies attending, to a video they're presumably going to release, will already have messed with that, so who knows.

As others have already noted, this livery release will be met with 'but is your car ready??' rather than any positivity, so might have been better saving it for the Bahrain test, assuming they have a car on track at that, to at least remove that response.

Really the silence is a problem, and perhaps suggests the issue isn't resolved? I mean, Vowles is going to have to answer questions about this every time he gets near a mic, for months to come. Rip the bandage off and get out in front of it!

[Stu]

Maybe someone has brought a fresh set of eyes to the cooling system plan & some serious (but peripheral) rework is necessary?

[WardenOfTheNorth]

Maybe someone has brought a fresh set of eyes to the cooling system plan & some serious (but peripheral) rework is necessary?

Did you have a person in mind for that role?

[bananapeel23]

Williams has passed the Crash test

To do so, they had to add many kilos to the car

As they were reporting yesterday on SoyMotor, it could be 20-30kg of overweight

@Auto_Racer_it
https://x.com/Nachez98/status/2016089679385227522

Well, at least they have an easy second or so worth of performance to gain form upgrades, although they will likely have to live with an overbuilt crash structure for the entire season.