Steiner claims Williams 'going backwards' as Vowles races to fix FW48

Guenther Steiner says Williams has gone "backwards" this season and insists James Vowles shouldn't be judged until he's worked through the mountain of engineering solutions piled up in his inbox. The former Haas boss delivered a brutal assessment of the Grove team's slump, though he conceded real change may only come after the team's major upgrades hit the track.

Why it matters:

Williams arrived in 2026 off the back of a promising 2025, having diverted development focus toward the current regulations. Instead of stepping forward, the team stumbled badly—missing pre-season testing, struggling with an overweight car, and falling to the back of the established grid. The slump raises serious questions about the team's direction and whether the promised turnaround is still realistic.

The details:

• Steiner joked that Vowles needs time to "read all his emails"—referencing the team principal's claim that his inbox holds every engineering step needed to fix the FW48—before leadership can be fairly judged.
• Williams has scored just 11 points this season, trailing fellow Mercedes customers Alpine (61) and McLaren (220) by a wide margin.
• The team missed its initial shakedown and arrived late to Bahrain testing, leaving it permanently on the back foot.
• In Hungary, Williams dropped behind Aston Martin as the slowest established team, with both Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon roughly half a second adrift of Fernando Alonso.
• Vowles has pinpointed weight reduction as the top priority. A lighter upgrade package is scheduled for Zandvoort, followed by an "almost entirely new car" in Baku.
• Albon admitted Aston Martin's Hungary upgrade was something Williams could "only dream of," warning that while the team knows what its Baku package brings, "it's not that."

What's next:

The coming rounds will define whether Williams can salvage its season or confirm Steiner's grim assessment. The Zandvoort and Baku updates represent the team's best chance to prove the FW48 concept is fixable. If the upgrades fail to deliver, pressure on Vowles and the team's long-term vision will intensify rapidly.