Williams were a squad many of their midfield rivals envied in 2025, having returned to the Grand Prix podium with new signing Carlos Sainz and risen to fifth position in the Teams’ Championship – their best classification since the 2017 season.
Unfortunately, plans to continue that momentum under F1’s new-for-2026 regulations came undone across the winter – the FW48 challenger arriving late, proving to be significantly overweight, and lacking all-round performance.