Williams finally has its 2026 car moving under its own power — and the undertone to Wednesday’s Silverstone shakedown was as much about time pressure as it was about first-lap ceremony.
A day after showing off its new livery, the team rolled the FW48 out for a promotional filming day at Silverstone, splitting the limited running between Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon. It was the car’s first on-track appearance, and it came with a bit of quiet urgency attached: Williams was the only squad not to make last week’s collective shakedown in Barcelona.
That context matters. In a winter dominated by compressed schedules and ever-more aggressive development cycles, missing a group running day doesn’t just cost a few early kilometres — it can steal rhythm from a programme that’s built on momentum. Every delayed installation lap increases the chance that the first proper test becomes less about learning and more about firefighting.
Sainz, speaking after completing his share of the running, leaned into the “everyone-pulled-together” tone you tend to hear when a team knows it’s been up against it.
“We just had our first laps in the FW48,” Sainz said. “It’s always an exciting, special day for the drivers, the mechanics and the entire team and it’s been a great effort from everyone to get the car on track today.
“It was a typical winter day at Silverstone, so we focused on getting in our first few laps and completing our shakedown plan. We are ready to fly to Bahrain in a few days where we’ll dive into more complete run plans, so I’m looking forward to it!”
Albon’s takeaway was similarly pragmatic: the day looked smooth from the outside, but the point of these short outings is to surface the small stuff before it becomes the big stuff.
“That’s shakedown done! Obviously a few bits of data to look at and areas to improve, but generally a fairly smooth day,” Albon said. “We had decent weather for Silverstone at this time of year and glad to finally be in the car and driving the FW48.
“Our full focus is on Bahrain now, looking at the data and getting ready for the start of the season.”
The immediate next step is already locked in. Williams is planning a second filming day in Bahrain on February 10 — effectively a final systems check in the same environment that will host the next phase of pre-season running, which begins 24 hours later.
Team principal James Vowles framed Silverstone as a milestone, but he didn’t dress it up as mission accomplished either. There was clear relief at simply having a car on track, coupled with the acknowledgement that the job now is turning first impressions into usable direction.
“This was a milestone day for us and it is always a very proud moment to see a new car on track for the first time,” Vowles said. “The team has absolutely pulled together under the pressure of the situation and delivered a car today for a planned promotional filming day here at Silverstone.
“We were able to understand more about our package in preparation for Bahrain next week and Carlos and Alex were able to provide some positive feedback to direct us, while also identifying some minor issues for us to clean up between now and then.
“The push isn’t over yet – this is just the beginning and there is more in front of us.”
That line — “minor issues” — will be the one people in the garage care about most. In February, every car has a list. The difference is whether the list is the kind you can tick off overnight with sensors, calibration and small fixes, or the kind that starts eating into run plans once the serious mileage begins.
For Williams, the bigger picture is straightforward: get to Bahrain with a clean baseline, bank laps early, and avoid the testing trap where you spend two days chasing gremlins and the third trying to understand performance with a car you don’t fully trust yet. The FW48’s first taste of tarmac at Silverstone doesn’t answer the performance questions — it never could in the confines of a filming day — but it does at least move the conversation back onto the track, where it belongs.
Now the stopwatch and the long runs will do the talking.
