Williams F1 2026 car finally hits the track with Silverstone shakedown

The 2026 Williams Formula 1 car finally hit the track for the first time with a shakedown at Silverstone just a week after the British squad skipped the Barcelona shakedown.

F1 hosted its first collective test of the 2026 season last week with five days of private running at the Catalan circuit, ahead of the campaign which introduces a regulation overhaul.

There are changes to both the chassis and power unit, so the championship introduced an extra test to help the teams prepare, but Williams announced late on its intentions to skip the shakedown in Barcelona.

That was because of “delays in the FW48 programme” according to team boss James Vowles, claiming “the amount of load going through our system is about three times what it used to be”.

So last week Williams instead completed a VTT (Virtual Track Test), which is similar to a simulator but instead entails putting most of the actual physical car through a rig to replicate an on-track test.

Vowles then claimed at its 2026 livery launch event on Tuesday that it was “successful”, adding “we did the mileage that we wanted to do” with the next step being Wednesday’s shakedown at the home of the British Grand Prix. 

Both Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz are confirmed to have taken part, but not in the official 2026 livery which is dark blue and black, with shades of light blue and white on the sidepods – as pictured above.

Instead, it ran its special FW48 testing colour scheme ahead of next week’s pre-season Bahrain outing on 11-13 February, where the Grove-based outfit should finally make it 11 teams on track.

With that kickstarting six days of pre-season running – there’s another Bahrain test on 18-20 February – Vowles reckons Williams will have hit its targets come the official 2026 Melbourne opener in March. 

“I’m confident we won’t be behind,” he said during the Barcelona week. “We’ve still got six days of good testing in Bahrain in representative conditions. Furthermore, we’re fortunate we have the power unit and gearbox provided by Mercedes. So the learning that they’re going through this week in Barcelona will carry over.

“It’s not that I want to be resting on their hard work, but it is worth stating that that disadvantage is negated. I’m confident that with six days in Bahrain, we will run through the programme that we need to and it’s why we’re on the virtual test track now.”

Williams comes into the season after finishing fifth in the 2025 standings, which was its highest result since the same position in 2017.

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– The Autosport.com Team