An unexpected clash between Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz (as the McLaren driver attempted to lap the Williams) has become the surprise talking point from the Hungarian GP.
Still, there were many other important narratives that emerged from last weekend.
Among these storylines is the situation at Williams, which – beyond the Sainz incident – is drawing more and more scrutiny. As it stands, the British team’s outlook looks increasingly bleak.
Speaking after a disappointing weekend in Budapest, team principal James Vowles spoke candidly about the state of affairs at Grove.
Vowles admits to long road ahead
In the first months of 2026, the team receiving most criticism was undeniably Aston Martin. This was understandable, given the AMR26’s debut as the slowest and least reliable car on the grid.
Moreover, the investment into Aston’s infrastructure (including a new wind tunnel) and acquisition of top personnel (Adrian Newey, Enrico Cardile, etc.) made their start to these regulations difficult to excuse.
In many ways, the Silverstone-based team’s poor start partly overshadowed the poor performance of the Williams FW48.
With Aston’s Budapest upgrades putting the AMR26 comfortably ahead of Williams in terms of performance, there was nowhere for the British team to hide last weekend.
James Vowles gave his reflections on a difficult 2026 campaign post-race:
“It’s been an incredibly tough first half of the year. First and foremost, a thank you to everyone back at base that has been diligently working tirelessly to get us back above water.
“This really has set us back, and we’re doing what we can across this season. But the reality is we need to make sure we get everything in the right place for 2027 and beyond.
“And that’s a tremendous amount of work.
“This winter really exposed everything that isn’t in the right place to a level that wasn’t expected. In terms of Alex and Carlos, thank you and well done.
“They’ve been by our side all the way through, and stood headstrong despite the difficulties we’re putting them in on track.
“They are two incredible drivers, and they deserve to be fighting for points – at the minimum – every weekend, and we haven’t provided that.
“We go into the summer break with frustration, but also the desire to make everything right in our future. Baku is coming, it will be a step, but it simply won’t be enough to be tangible and put us in the right place this season.
“The reality behind it is that we have the same desire to keep improving and stepping up.
“We have to get the fundamentals right, build on the foundations we have in the meantime, fixing the elements that are clearly wrong, and just come back swinging in our future.”
Questions about the Williams project
It would be premature to suggest that Williams cannot make a recovery from their current position, at least in the medium-term.
Formula 1 has many instances throughout the years of teams progressing rapidly from one season to another.
However, it cannot be said there is much confidence surrounding Williams. In the short term, even Vowles admits that making a recovery in 2026 is unlikely – with the team’s focus shifting towards the 2027 car.
Moreover, unlike Aston Martin who are awaiting Honda’s upgraded engine, Williams cannot hide behind a power unit – given that Mercedes engines are class of the field.
This means that serious questions will be asked about the team’s development on the chassis and aerodynamics.
Another quite fundamental point of concern is the FW48’s weight. Compared to the start of the year, the FW48 is substantially lighter – which virtually always translates into improved lap-time via weight reduction.
In the case of Williams, however, both Albon and Sainz have reported losses in performance after the arrival of lighter specifications.
This is one of many issues that the personnel at the factory in Grove will be tasked with solving.
