Former Formula 1 strategist Bernie Collins has warned Williams that it will suffer a heavy financial burden if its intra-team collision at the Dutch Grand Prix were to be repeated.
The Grove-based squad entered the weekend at Zandvoort in buoyant mood, having confirmed it locked down both Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon to new deals, the latter ending longstanding speculation about the Spaniard’s future with the team.
Sainz’s commitment will have no doubt provided a huge tonic for the team, amid its tricky 2026 season, in which it has been plagued by a variety of technical issues that has stunted the progress of its successful 2025 campaign.
But the weekend ended on a very sour note with Sainz and Albon colliding on the approach to Turn 1 late on in the race.
Sainz took responsibility for the clash, and the incident was able to transpire without any damage to the pair’s relationship, but it would have no doubt provided a fair share of embarrassment all round.
Dented pride aside, the dents on both FW48s will have given Williams a hefty repair bill, something which Collins, speaking on the Sky Sports F1 Show, reminded the team starkly that, under its current circumstances, cannot happen again.
“The first rule within a team is: ‘do not hit your teammate’. That is like the P1 rule,” she said. “Particularly a team who are struggling to bring upgrades, struggling for money. Their car is overweight and underperforming.”
Williams set for ‘big discussion’ after Albon-Sainz moment
With Williams set to earn less money from Constructors’ Championship position compared to last year, as well as the overall costs the new regulations brings.
And Collins cited Mercedes boss Toto Wolff’s revelation that it is needing to tighten its belt when it comes to its upgrades as an example that Williams will need to avoid such an incident again.
“We hear Mercedes saying they don’t have enough money to bring upgrades. You just can’t lose the parts, the performance, the knowledge,” she said. “So I think that’s something that they’re going to have a big discussion about.
“Whether it comes out of their pay packet or not doesn’t matter because it’s already out of the budget. You can’t put it back into the budget and say, ‘Oh, the drivers have subbed this bit of the budget.’ It doesn’t work like that. So that was a difficult weekend for them.
“And whether they did or didn’t do the right strategy, it was only [Fernando] Alonso who did the other strategy. So, they had very similar strategies to those around them.
“But the performance was lacking, and it just seems the car wasn’t the right weight, and it wasn’t delivered on time, and it didn’t have the right performance.
“So, there’s lots going on in the background of Williams there.”
Williams will be hoping its Mercedes power unit will bring enough grunt to literally outweight its chassis issues next weekend at Monza.
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