James Vowles has confirmed that Williams will be ready for the first of two pre-season tests in Bahrain, despite Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz missing the recent shakedown in Barcelona. Formula 1 organised a private test at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya this week, giving teams a chance to iron out any reliability issues ahead of the new season.
James Vowles has confirmed that Williams will be ready for the first of two pre-season tests in Bahrain, despite Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz missing the recent shakedown in Barcelona.
Formula 1 organised a private test at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya this week, giving teams a chance to iron out any reliability issues ahead of the new season. Williams, however, missed the session after running into some delays.
The team had put their focus early on the 2026 F1 regulations and shifted their attention to aero and chassis changes before many others. But there have been reports suggesting they failed an FIA frontal crash test and that their car was overweight.
It now appears those concerns may have been overblown. The chassis has since passed all FIA crash tests, and any talk about it being significantly overweight seems exaggerated. Williams are now preparing to put their 2026 car on track for the first time when F1 heads to Bahrain from February 11-13 and again from February 18-20.
Carlos Sainz’s ‘first question’ after Williams missed the Barcelona shakedown was how he could help
Williams team boss Vowles decided to keep Albon and Sainz out of the Barcelona shakedown, as taking part in the private test could have left them with a shortage of parts in the opening rounds, with production already “a bit behind.”
Sainz was understandably frustrated by Williams missing the entire Barcelona session, but Vowles appreciated how quickly the Spaniard offered his support.
“He is just as frustrated as I am. We are here to race or to test at this moment, or to do a filming day.”
Williams misses Barcelona shakedown but finds encouragement in Mercedes engine performance
With Williams skipping the entire shakedown in Barcelona, Albon and Sainz will be playing catch-up by the time they get on track for pre-season testing in Bahrain. While some teams like Audi and Haas have been dealing with reliability issues, others have already started to build up valuable mileage.
However, there is a bit of reassurance for Williams from Mercedes and their fellow engine customers, Alpine and McLaren. The new power unit from Mercedes has shown strong reliability during the Montmelo sessions, which should give Williams hope that they’ll be able to run consistently once testing begins in Bahrain.
Williams have also put their 2026 car through several virtual tests back at their Grove headquarters. That data should help them get up to speed more quickly once they hit the track in Sakhir, where Albon and Sainz will be looking to log as many laps as possible to make up for lost time.
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Category: General Sports
