Rumours regarding Williams‘ 2026 challenger; the FW48 being grossly overweight have been laid to rest after Formula 1 livery reveal.
After abandoning the 2025 campaign to focus on the 2026 regulations reset, the James Vowles-led team were expected to make a strong impression during last weeks’ private shakedown at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
But the Grove-based team‘s start to F1’s latest era has not gone to plan for them. Williams missed the opening pre-season event in Spain owing to reportedly having failed the FIA-mandated crash tests.
It was also being widely speculated that the FW48 was substantially overweight and the team were at their wits end to bring the car down to the minimum weight.
The latest technical rulebook dictates that a team’s car must be at least 768kgs. Williams were reportedly over 20kgs in excess – which in terms of outright performance would have been fatal for the FW48.
That said, the team unveiled its 2026 colors in an online event – which was initially planned as a physical livery launch, earlier this week.
As part of the event, the media were sent a press-pack outlining the finer details about Williams’ 2026 car. As it turns out, Williams has declared the FW48 to weigh 772.4kgs.
While not out rightly ideal, it is a measly sum compared to the rumored 800kgs package. In fact, Mercedes’ W17 is only 0.4kgs lighter and Ferrari hit the scales with the SF-26 2kgs above the minimum weight mandate of 768kgs.
Vowles, however, did not feed much into the speculation nor did he definitively comment on the weight aspect of the FW48 being either a deterrent or asset to its 2026 ambitions.
When asked, he simply replied, “In terms of weight, until there are two race cars built in the correct specification going forward, it’s hard to comment.”
Williams conducted a Virtual Track Test session in lieu of missing out on the private shakedown.
However, team – which finished fifth in the Constructors’ championship in 2025 – is expected to finally debut the FW48, on track, at the Bahrain International Circuit for the official pre-season tests.
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