Williams pins recovery hopes on ‘almost entirely new car’ for Baku

Williams sets Baku target for major FW48 reset

Williams team principal James Vowles says the team is waiting for what he describes as an “almost entirely new car” to arrive by the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in late September, as the Grove squad tries to arrest a difficult start to Formula 1’s new era.

Recent races have underlined the scale of the challenge. Williams has failed to score in the last two grands prix, with hot conditions and circuit corner profiles exposing weaknesses in the package. Carlos Sainz retired in Austria with an engine failure, while Alex Albon finished 17th, two laps down. Sainz’s frustration after that weekend was already clear, as covered in our report on how Sainz said Williams was ‘still not good enough’ after the Austrian GP retirement.

Vowles outlines staged upgrade plan

Speaking to Sky Germany, Vowles said: “I think that's one of the big reasons why you've seen us fall back a bit. Our upgrade plans, we've got what I call a medium-sized for Silverstone, so just in one week's time.”

He added: “And then there'll be small bits, Spa. Budapest, small bits as well. And then slightly bigger elements, including weight reduction to Zandvoort. And then really for us, it's almost an entirely new car for Baku. So that's really the time period that we're waiting for.”

That timeline means Williams is not expecting an instant transformation at the British Grand Prix. The Silverstone package is the first step, followed by incremental additions at Spa and Budapest, before weight-saving elements arrive at Zandvoort and the larger Baku update completes the more substantial reset.

Albon cautious on Silverstone expectations

Albon has played down the idea that the British Grand Prix upgrade will be a decisive breakthrough. Instead, he sees it as a realistic move toward closing the gap to teams such as Alpine, Racing Bulls and Haas.

“It's not going to get us to the midfield, but it will get us maybe closer to the Haas,” Albon said after Austria. “I think that's maybe a sensible first step this year to get a little bit closer to the midfield cars. I think we got lapped by the Racing Bulls today, so... we're quite a far way away.”

For Williams, Baku has become the clear marker. Until then, the priority is damage limitation, incremental progress and proving that the FW48’s underlying problems can still be meaningfully corrected.