Azerbaijan GP: Friday focus on upgrades for Williams F1 Team

By Williams F1 Team
September 25 2026

The Atlassian Williams F1 Team would head into the 2026 Azerbaijan GP with their focus being on a updated FW48. The team had been able to bring with them a new chassis built using a new production process that has seen the team, for the first time in 2026, being able to run with ballast to bring their car up to the minimum weight. The team also updated several areas of the car including the front and rear brake ducts plus parts of the floor including changed intake channels. The question was how well would this updated car perform. Both Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon commented that the car was a step in the right direction but that it was very early in the process of getting the best from it. Hopefully Saturday practice will give a better indication of where the car is at.


Atlassian Williams F1 Team Azerbaijan GP Thursday Practice Review



	Carlos Sainz: "Today felt like a step forward as we expected - there were no massive surprises. Unfortunately we had quite a scrappy day with a lack of running in FP1 and FP2 because of some issues with the car, including the brakes. So we didn't get all the laps in to evaluate everything that we would have liked, but we still have FP3 to do it. In general I feel a bit better with the car and it seems like we’re a bit closer to the midfield. I feel like I'm in a good place and now we need to make the right steps going into tomorrow."

	Alex Albon: "That’s Friday finished with our main talking points focusing on the upgrades. I think we've shown that we're a little bit more competitive and the cars are behaving pretty well, but there’s still some things to learn and improve on. We'll look at the data tonight to assess how we can improve the balance for both of us heading into tomorrow."

Baku City Circuit, Azerbaijan \| 6.003km

Driver	FP1	FP2
C. Sainz	P12 \| 1:46.893 \| 22 Laps	P17 \| 1:46.221 \| 22 Laps
A. Albon	P13 \| 1:46.939 \| 29 Laps	P16 \| 1:46.123 \| 24 Laps