2026 Atlassian Williams F1 Team

[dren]

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

Sounds reasonable to me unlike adding 20-30kilos to the front wing...

[continuum16]

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/wil ... eight-car/

Some explanation here. While the points are well-rationalized from Vowles (as they always tend to be), I’m not sure if I believe them all 100%. I do buy the idea that the true car weight is unknown (although they should have a pretty good ballpark idea I would think, no?).

Feels very déjà vu: “things fell behind” “we underestimated the complexity” “this is the most complex thing that Williams has ever done” etc.

I thought measures were put in place to prevent things from falling behind; that’s the crusade he’s been on for years now. There’s no real reason, looking at the the scope of all the F1 teams, that Williams would be the team most behind.

They are not the smallest team (Haas).
They are not a new team (Cadillac).
They did not change PU suppliers (Alpine, Aston, Audi, Red Bull/VCARB).

Any of those would have been at least slightly understandable for falling behind. But Williams have PU stability, management stability, technical staff is the same, and they started early. Just baffling.

At least they won’t miss any more testing than this, I guess.

[ScottB]

As very much a layman here, but, how on earth can it be 'impossible' to know what the car weighs? They know what the parts weigh even if they haven't bolted them altogether, surely?

Hell, they must have used some sort of weight for this virtual test?

Seems a really long way to say the car is overweight, he just doesn't want to admit it yet?

[Badger]

I mean this is worse than the rumours, no? He's saying they were overwhelmed by the entire project which makes you question just how much progress has been made at that team in recent years.

[ScottB]

I mean this is worse than the rumours, no? He's saying they were overwhelmed by the entire project which makes you question just how much progress has been made at that team in recent years.

For a guy that set himself up very publicly as being there to fix process, 'can you believe these guys were using an Excel!' and all that, saying everything was aimed at 2026, then here we are, saying the team has been overwhelmed and they don't really know what state the car is in, this is... awful?

Like, a sackable offence, if the performance isn't there.

[FNTC]

Pretending that its impossible to know the weight of the car is laughable. I'm thinking the rumours of failed crash tests and being very overweight is sounding true.

[edu2703]

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/wil ... eight-car/

Some explanation here. While the points are well-rationalized from Vowles (as they always tend to be), I’m not sure if I believe them all 100%. I do buy the idea that the true car weight is unknown (although they should have a pretty good ballpark idea I would think, no?).

In a highly precise sport where every milligram counts, it's bizarre to imagine that Williams has no idea how much the car weighs. I imagine the teams must know even how much every individual part of the car weighs, down to the smallest screw.

This interview sounds like an admission the rumors about the car being overweight are true.

[continuum16]

I want clarify what I said earlier about believing their “we don’t know the exact weight” comment; I meant that I suppose they may not know down to the exact gram, but I would expect within a few kilograms at worst. Unless the design is literally unfinished they would definitely know enough to know whether or not they are overweight by a significant amount.

I also don’t get how “they could have made it to Barcelona but it would have impacted spares and updates for the rest of the season” makes any sense. I’m not sure how getting things done earlier would have prevented you from getting things done later. If anything it seems to me like the opposite would be true; pushing the build back later would cause you to be short on parts.

[lio007]

What if they had to start production of x parts late to get the them into the '26 budget? I can't remember if they had some serious crashes and might have been on the cap limit in '25?

[dren]

Aren't a lot of the cars over the min weight? Yeah, it just sounds like Vowels is sidestepping the questions. I'll wait and see what Williams brings.

[Jurgen von Diaz]

This is typical James. "I would not take Newey or Verstappen, money is not the reason, I have the best drivers on the grid." And so on. Always talking bulls*it. Between the lines, the car is grid's heaviest.

[ME4ME]

Of course they aim high and try to push themselves. But to do that you estimate your organizations ability and aim to deliver 110% of that and people will do their darn best to make it happen. But what they've done here under Vowles is aim way beyond their capabilities, it's naive. They shot themselves in the foot.

Also it's so strange, all they've talked about was 2026 for years and years. What on earth have they done in all that time? The team has yet to come a long way. It's disappointing.

[RonMexico]

It's eeriely similar to the last time an ex Mercedes engineer was in charge at Williams. Not great!

[Italiano]

He definitely went too far with the aura farming on podcasts. Let's see what happens in Bahrain.

[Waz]

Williams didn't even develop a new car for 2025 so they could focus on 2026. So disappointed to see that last year's "progress" appears to be anything but.

Oddly enough, I pointed out that for a team like Williams, it would be better for the regulation start to build a simple car for Season 1 and then work on something similar to the best car for S2 onwards.

I couldn't understand how this team that couldn't prepare 2 spare cars in 2024 was claiming to be aiming for a front running car in 2026.

And they somehow convinced Sainz they were the better option for 2026 onwards instead of Audi.

Maybe we'll be proven wrong when we get to see this new car, but it doesn't seem likely now.