Williams announced on Friday that they would not be attending the first five day private test due to take place in Barcelona starting on Monday. The FW48 is yet to successfully pass the FIA’s crash test although a statement from the team suggests other issues are involved.
“We’re all pushing to the limit of performance with the regulations and we’ve stretched the organisation to the point where we can’t go to Barcelona,” reported at spokesman for the Grove based team, adding, that it is “a reminder we’re not yet at the championship level we need to be at”.
The team also revealed they would be running further tests with the car and the power unit on a rolling road rig which suggests the mechanical and aerodynamic elements on the car are not running in harmony as expected. This incremental testing will be complete before the second pre-season test in Bahrain from 11-13 February.
Aston Martin may miss Barcelona too
McLaren too are running their car for longer on a similar kind of AVL rig in Austria and have stated they will definitely miss the first day at least in Barcelona. These rigs are a chassis dynamometer which enables realistic, repeatable and high performance testing for the vehicle as a whole to eliminate unexpected vibrations along with unwanted harshness in the ride. McLaren are prioritising performance refinement over track time as are Williams.
Today another team, Aston Martin appears to be in trouble with its pre-season testing preparations and may also not make the first days at the Circuit de Catalunya. Honda expressly explained early in 2025 that they were behind their curve given their original decision to pull out of the sport for the new Power unit era.
“We are aiming to submit the homologation [of the power unit] in February next year – since we had a slightly late start, we want to push forward until the very last moment,” Honda’s F1 project leader, Tetushi Kakuda told Motorsport.com. This itself is very last minute given the deadline for the final engine architecture to be approved by the FIA is five days before the season opener in Melbourne on March 6th.
According to The Times, ‘at least one other team’ is in danger of joining Williams on the absentee list in Barcelona, which is Aston Martin. They too have yet to complete the FIA front nose cone crash test and this together with Honda’s last minute engine tweaks are not ideal for Adrian Newey and his first non-Red Bull F1 car design for two decades.
Audi admit they’re in trouble after first shakedown
Williams concerned over lack of parts again
German publication Bild claim that Williams could have participated in the Barcelona shakedown, by designing a mule type nose cone just to pass the crash test for now, whilst final version remains in development.
Yet James Vowles is allegedly “deliberately choosing not to” because he believes more dyno time will improve the team’s chances to improve the quality of the running of the car. Further, there are concerns in Grove that any accidents in Barcelona could compromise Williams ability to field two cars in either Bahrain or again in Australia.
In 2024 after a number of early season crashes, Williams were forced to run just one car in the Grand Prix in Melbourne following a heavy impact following an Alex Albon crash which damaged his FW46, writing off the chassis. Logan Sargeant was forced to sit out the reminder of the weekend.
With their ageing facilities and smaller number of personnel,. Williams had failed to deliver a third spare chassis in time for the start of the 2024 season, something James Vowles labelled “unacceptable in modern day F1.” Yet with pre-season testing starting some three weeks earlier this year, it appears groundhog day has arrived in Grove.
Brundle slams Ferrari over Hamilton engineer shake up
Ferrari says ‘don’t judge us by race 1’
Having had such a promising season finishing behind the big four in 2025, Williams were buoyant about making progress this year, claiming further podiums to add to Carlos Sainz two last season. Yet reports suggest the call from James Vowels to miss the first pre-season test has left many with “long faces” back at base.
Ferrari’s team boss Fred Vasseur has claimed on more than one occasion that the teams should not be judged by where they are in the pecking order come race day in Melbourne. La Gazzetta reports the boss of the Scuderia saying at the Maranello festive bash: “A key issue next season will be managing the budget cap.”
“Because if a team starts introducing four or five updates in the first races, or if – for example – they have to send a new underbody to a distant race like Japan or China, they’re burning through half their development budget at the start of the year. It will therefore be important to carefully evaluate step by step what to do, based on where we are.
“Whoever is ahead of everyone in Melbourne, at the first race, won’t necessarily have the winning car for the year.” That said, track time is vital and the likes of Ferrari and McLaren may be compromised by starting their Barcelona test later in the week.
McLaren win knockout $12m in damages in shock to Indycar star
McLaren & Ferrari to suffer heavy rain
The teams will run one single car shared between the drivers for just three of the five days allocated to Barcelona. Currently the weather forecast suggests the best running will be on day’s one and two with heavy rains expected later in the week. This of course will restrict the variety of running there team and drivers can attempt.
Alpine by way of contrast have stated they will be clocking laps from day one as they anticipate poor weather conditions towards days four and five. The Barcelona test was originally set to be behind closed doors, to hide the blushes of a team or power unit manufacturers should they have shockers in terms of reliability.
However, it was announced yesterday that in the UK at least, daily high lists will be shown each evening from Monday to Friday on Sky F1 from 19:00.
Briatore confirms ongoing talks with Christian Horner and Alpine
Speculation surrounding Christian Horner’s potential return to Formula 1 has intensified after Flavio Briatore confirmed that the former Red Bull team principal is in discussions with Alpine. Although nothing has been finalised, Briatore’s comments represent the first official confirmation that Horner is actively considering a comeback, this time as an owner rather than a manager.
Horner, who left Red Bull earlier this year, has been linked to several teams in recent months. Alpine has emerged as the most concrete option, largely due to the structure of its ownership and the availability of a significant minority stake…. READ MORE…
A.J. Hunt is Senior Editor at TJ13, where Andrew oversees editorial standards and contributes to the site’s Formula 1 coverage. A career journalist with experience in both print and digital sports media, Andrew trained in investigative journalism and has written for a range of European sports outlets.
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