Williams F1 car 'more than 20kg' overweight at Chinese GP

Williams

Williams F1 car 'more than 20kg' overweight at Chinese GP

James Vowles has admitted Williams' struggles in the early 2026

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Wednesday 11 March 2026 16:18

Williams F1 team principal James Vowles has admitted their 2026 F1 car is more than 20kg overweight heading into the Chinese Grand Prix.

The Grove-based outfit suffered a dismal weekend at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, with Alex Albon finishing down in 12th, and Carlos Sainz in 15th.

That's in stark contrast to the 2025 Australian GP, when Albon managed to claim fifth position and kickstart what was a fantastic season for the team.

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Part of Williams' poor performance in Australia was down to their car being heavy compared to the new allowed minimum weight limit, with some reports suggesting that the FW46 is as much as 28kg overweight.

In F1 2026, new chassis rules have seen cars become much lighter than they were in 2025, with the new minimum weight limit being 768kg, 32kg down from last year.

But Vowles recently suggested that the team's new car is more than 20kg above that, telling media at the Australian GP: "So if it was 20kg, it's more than that.

"It isn't just the effect of mass. When people calculate that number, they don't take into account CofG [centre of gravity] height changes.

"They do not take into account the impact that you now have on harvesting, of which it's minimum apex speed, of which that's impacted by weight. So it's bigger."

But Vowles knows exactly what must be done in order to counteract Williams' weight problems.

"It's not complicated to bring it down," Vowles continued. "Already what I have in my inbox today is all of the engineering steps to not just bring it down but actually be underweight by a good amount. That exists to us.

"If this was a cost-cap free world, I would execute it tomorrow. It would be done in a few weeks. But it's not.

"So you've got to time it with when those components effectively start to go out of life and when we will be doing upgrades later on in the season."

Williams' 2026 expectations

Williams have been speaking about the 2026 season for quite some time, with Vowles reiterating throughout 2024 and 2025 that the team's focus was on the regulations overhaul of 2026.

So it was surprising that the team were not ready for the first pre-season testing event in Barcelona back in January, and their problems have continued from there.

They have one of the most talented driver lineups on the grid, and their star drivers will not accept running outside of the points.

In 2025, Sainz was able to claim two grand prix podiums and a sprint race podium, while the team finished in the top five in the constructors' championship.

They were hoping in 2026 to edge closer to the top four teams in the championship, but so far that has not materialised, and Albon suggested after the Australian GP that the team are not even in a midfield battle.

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