Williams make shock call to miss first F1 2026 test after ‘delays’ in car development

James Vowles’s outfit, with drivers Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon, will not be present in Barcelona next week

Williams team principal James Vowles has made the call to withdraw his team from next week’s test (Getty Images)

Williams have withdrawn from next week’s private F1 pre-season test in Barcelona following “delays” to their car development programme.

James Vowles’s outfit, who boast an impressive driver pairing in Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon, have long targeted 2026 and this new set of regulations as a year to work their way up the pecking order.

Yet following reports that the team’s 2026 car, the FW48, had failed the FIA’s mandatory crash tests, the team confirmed on Friday that they will not be present at the shakedown event for all 11 teams next week.

The news will be a blow to Sainz and Albon, leaving them just six days of testing in Bahrain prior to the season-opener in Australia on 8 March.

A team statement read: “Atlassian Williams F1 Team has taken the decision not to participate in next week’s shakedown test in Barcelona following delays in the FW48 programme as we continue to push for maximum car performance.

“The team will instead conduct a series of tests, including a VTT (Virtual Test Track) programme next week, with the 2026 car to prepare for the first official test in Bahrain and the first race of the season in Melbourne.

“We are looking forward to getting on track in the coming weeks and want to thank all our fans for your continued support – there is a lot to look forward to together in 2026.”

Williams finished an impressive fifth in last year’s constructors’ championship, with Sainz recording two podiums in his first season with the Grove-based team. Yet Vowles emphasised that, despite the positive performance, the focus was on this year.

Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz will not be present at next week’s test (Getty Images)

“Above all else, the most important year is 2026,” he told The Independent last year. “It doesn’t matter where we finish in the championship in 2025. It’s not that I don’t care, I do care. But the on-track performance is not an indicator of the lovely things going on at Williams.

“And that’s not a pair of handcuffs we put on ourselves. We need to see excellence coming into our organisation: the best graduates, infrastructure, and continuous movement forward in all areas.

“That’s the metric I stand by which is tangible, and I can control that moving forward.”

Williams are set to officially launch their 2026 car at their Oxfordshire factory on Tuesday, 3 February.