Williams F1 boss addresses overweight 2026 car speculation

Williams team principal James Vowles has insisted he has no idea if the squad's car for the upcoming season is overweight.

Speculation has been rife in recent weeks over Williams' challenger, which is not present at the ongoing Barcelona shakedown event.

RacingNews365 understands the team failed to pass the FIA crash tests in the build-up to the new season, with the area of concern surrounding the front nose box.

Vowles has since declared that the crash tests have been cleared and is on course to take to the track at the Bahrain pre-season test next month.

However, he downplayed the speculation over the car's weight, insisting even the Williams team does not know the true figure.

“There's no knowledge of the weight until we get to Bahrain in terms of understanding where it is,” Vowles told select media including RacingNews365.

“That's not avoiding the question, but you need to get all the sensor packs off to actually understand where we are.

“It’s a very aggressive weight target, and if we are over, anything you see out there, there's not a single person that would truly know it. It's impossible to know it.

“You need the car together without sensors in the right form, and that doesn't exist today.

“If we end up being over the weight target, from that point on, it'll be an aggressive program to get it off.

“But I think right now, anything that you're seeing, the murmurings in the media are murmurings.

“I’ll come out and explain to everyone at the point where we know that.”

RacingNews365 pushed the subject further with Vowles, expressing that the team must have some idea as to a ballpark figure or run the risk of having a car that far reaches beyond a competitive level.

To that, Vowles replied: “What I'm really indicating to you is that the numbers we're talking about are probably small enough that I need to see the car weighed in order for me to be able to assess where we are.

“So it's not miles over to that point. I guess that helps you in that regard.”