Williams are set to give their major FW48 upgrade package its first track running on Thursday in Azerbaijan, with Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon urging caution over how quickly the changes can alter the team’s position in Formula 1’s midfield.
The Grove team has concentrated much of its research and development work on a single in-season intervention after identifying fundamental issues with its 2026 car. Formula 1 reported that the package combines a revised, lighter chassis with new aerodynamic parts, following a programme that had been planned since the start of the season.
Reducing the car’s weight is expected to bring a direct lap-time benefit, but Williams face a more difficult question over their relative progress. Alpine, Racing Bulls and Audi have also continued developing their cars since Williams’ Baku package was designed and approved, leaving the scale of any gain against those midfield rivals uncertain.
Sainz realistic about the size of the deficit
Sainz described Madrid as Williams’ low point of the season, saying the team had been more than three seconds from the overall pace and more than 1.5 seconds behind the midfield leaders there. He said the lack of development had accumulated by that stage and that the new specification was closer to the level at which Williams should have begun the campaign.
However, Sainz said the package was not capable of immediately finding the 1.5 seconds required to erase the gap seen in Madrid. He therefore said it would not be a disappointment if the car’s improvement did not translate into points contention in Baku, given the scale of the numbers involved.
Sainz suggested Baku’s characteristics could suit Williams better than some venues, citing Miami, Montreal, Monaco and Monza as circuits where the team had been relatively closer. Yet he also expected the underlying shortcomings to reappear more sharply at other tracks, including Austin and Malaysia.
His assessment was that Williams were still carrying deficits and problems dating from the winter, and that reaching a reasonable performance level could take into 2027. The immediate importance of the update, he said, was not simply a single result but evidence that the team’s development systems could deliver the expected progress and provide a direction for next year.
Sainz contrasted the present challenge with Williams’ Baku weekend in 2025, when he qualified second and finished third after a car and circuit combination that worked well. He said this year’s realistic expectation, even with the upgrades, was that Williams could struggle to progress beyond Q1 or reach the higher end of Q2.
Albon says track correlation will decide impact
Albon said the changes were significant if they worked as intended, particularly because Williams had carried what he described as a substantial weight penalty during the season. He said he believed the team would have ballast on the car in Baku, underlining the extent of the reduction achieved through the chassis work.
The Thai driver said a mid-season chassis change had required major effort at the factory, and that new technology and innovation had helped Williams achieve the weight reduction. While he viewed the weight saving as a reliable source of lap time, he said the aerodynamic package still had to be validated in real running.
Albon noted that simulator work provides much of the basis for the team’s calculations, but cautioned that simulation and circuit performance do not always match. He said the FW48 would not look dramatically different externally, although smaller changes were intended to improve its balance.
He said the expected step was based partly on simulator calculations, while adding that the car had to show the same correlation once it ran on circuit. That distinction leaves the Baku sessions important not only for measuring lap time, but also for establishing whether the package is behaving as Williams’ simulations indicated.
Williams’ target is therefore measured rather than transformative. Albon said the upgrade was a positive step, but that the rate of development among midfield teams meant it was not large enough by itself to outpace the group. Baku running may provide an early indication of whether the package is delivering the progress Williams expects, though its relative position will also depend on rivals’ development.