Williams becomes final team to run its 2026 F1 car on track
Williams has offered a first image of its 2026 Formula 1 car after the FW48 made its track debut.
The team missed F1's behind-closed-doors shakedown test at Barcelona at the end of January - Williams was the only team to do so - having endured delays with the build of its car.
It declined to show the FW48 as part of a launch event at its Grove factory on Tuesday, with renders of its 2026 livery shown on a hybrid design. This was more advanced than the basic F1 2026 showcar model but not the FW48 in its final form; as an example, it was lacking a pushrod or pullrod in the front suspension.
But Williams has now run the full FW48 on track in a shakedown at Silverstone.
Race drivers Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz both got to drive the car, which ran in the fan-chosen livery that will be used at the upcoming Bahrain pre-season tests.
A new era comes to life 💙
Today, the FW48 completed a shakedown test at Silverstone. pic.twitter.com/oJgYgRxfMk
Williams completed this run as part of its 'promotional filming day' allowance. It will complete a second such filming day in Bahrain on February 10, a day before the first official pre-season test starts.
It comes almost four weeks after Audi became the first team to run its 2026 car at Barcelona on January 9.
The first image of the Williams shows it has a pullrod front suspension system with a strong degree of anti-dive.
More on Williams's pre season so far
- How much did Williams really lose from missing first F1 test?
- Zero-rods? Williams's unusual 2026 F1 showcar explained
- Williams reveals livery for late 2026 F1 car that's 'most complex' yet
- Williams promises 'different' front suspension, but not as extreme as Newey
- What latest 'painful' F1 car delay has exposed about Vowles' Williams
- Video: What late 2026 F1 car has exposed about Williams
Prior to its Silverstone shakedown run, Williams did complete a virtual track test (VTT) programme in lieu of being at Barcelona.
This involved "most of the physical car", according to team principal James Vowles, which included "the chassis, the engine, the gearbox" but did not have its "wings bolted to it".