After taking a big step forward in 2025 to finish fifth in the Teams Championship, expectations were high for Williams’ potential success this season. But those hopes were dashed before the cars even ventured out onto the track. The team missed the Barcelona pre-season Shakedown and since racing began have been plagued by an overweight car as well as several technical issues. As a result, the team has only 11 points to its name heading into the summer break and will want urgent improvements. Here’s the lowdown on his 2026 so far…
Better finish
Albon – 8th in Monaco
Alex Albon finished eighth in Monacothe team’s best result so far this season. But even then, there was a pain in the tail for the team with Carlos Sainz hit twice on a late red-flagged restart – forcing him to retire and denying Williams a potentially vital points double.
Despite his final position, Albon showed some frustration with the team orders he had left behind. Sainz and then backed the field to help him with a pit stop… only for his teammate to retire.
“I resigned from a position to Arvid Lindblad and at the time I thought we had done all that for nothing and I was frustrated at the time because I thought it was a silly way to give away an obvious points position,” Albon said at the time. “Luckily we made it work. “I think eighth place is a great result for us and it was maybe my best weekend so far this year, so I’m very happy.”
The team has only achieved one double points result this season: in Miami where Sainz finished ninth and Albon tenth. More on that to come…
Face to face classification
Albon 2-9 Sainz
While there isn’t much to celebrate in a difficult campaign so far for Williams, Sainz could take heart from the fact that he has led the head-to-head standings nine to two over Albon.
Neither driver has reached Q3 in Qualifying this season, although Sainz achieved a P10 in Sprint Qualifying in Canada.
Head to head race
Albon 5-6 Sainz
Sainz also leads the Grand Prix figures, although only by six to five. Incidentally, these numbers represent the number of points scored by each driver to complete the 11 in Williams’ total, with Sainz recording three P9 finishes while Albon has a P8 and a P10 to his name.
Both drivers scored points in Miami after Williams improved, but this is the only race so far with two top 10 finishes to celebrate.
best time
There haven’t been too many candidates for this category, but we’re going for double the points in Miami. Sainz finished P9 while Albon was just behind him in P10, making up five places after qualifying 15th.
It looked like that moment could have marked the beginning of reversing Williams’ lackluster start, but despite the positive result, both drivers remained cautious.
Sainz said that “higher expectations” had been setwhile Albon added that they needed to continue that level of performance in future races.
Williams scored points in both Canada and Monaco, but have failed to increase their tally in the last five Grands Prix.
worst moment
Williams’ tough 2026 season finally started with them missing the barcelona shakedown. While they did well to make up for lost time, this indicated that they were behind where they needed (or wanted) to be.
Speaking to F1.com, team principal James Vowles recently explained How tough the winter had been for the Grove team and the problems with the car’s production came as a big surprise.
“You get exposed in these big regulatory changes,” he said. “We need a team and a support structure of systems, processes and hardware around us so that when the game changes, as a set of rules, we don’t go backwards.”
Williams’ problems continued, with its challenger FW48 overweight during the early races. The Japanese Grand Prix was even treated as a test session and Albon made five consecutive pit stops to experiment with different setups.
Moving forward
The big question now is how will Williams return after the summer shutdown? Before the break in Hungary, things seemed to be going the other way for the team, with both drivers eliminated in Q1, losing to one of the improved Aston Martins and only lapping faster than F1 newcomers Cadillac.
At the Hungaroring, Sainz commented that a decision on whether to stay with Williams in the future “It depends on how quickly we can recover,” while noting “what the team is investing in” and how “the vision is still pretty clear.”
Meanwhile Albon celebrated his 100th Grand Prix with the team in Budapest, but how long could that loyalty last if results don’t improve?
Speaking to F1.com, Vowles insisted he was convinced everything will work out and said both drivers “want to invest in making it a better, faster team.”
As for improvements, Williams is expected to unveil an update, including a new chassis, at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the end of September, but the impression is that the team is gradually shifting its focus towards 2027.
“A lot of changes for next year,” Vowles promised. “We are already working on next year, because it is the right thing to do at this time.
“There are some elements of this year’s car that we won’t be able to unearth to the full level that I want. This year it’s about a couple of really unpleasant handling characteristics in the car, finding them and fixing them, to create the right platform for the future.
“With this will come performance, but it’s really about that approach of just getting some of the basics right to present a strong future.”