Williams' Azerbaijan upgrade: Big step, but not a game-changer

Williams heads to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix with its most significant upgrade of the season, featuring a new chassis designed to shed substantial weight. Team principal James Vowles had promised an "almost completely new" car, but the drivers are keeping expectations in check: it's a solid step forward, not a magic fix.

Why it matters:

The FW48 has been held back all year by excess weight and a late development program. The team started the season at least 20kg over the minimum limit, costing roughly 30 milliseconds per lap for every kilo. This package is about addressing that fundamental weakness and providing a clean baseline for 2027 development.

The details:

• The centerpiece is a new, lighter chassis, a change not visible from the outside but one that directly addresses the car's biggest handicap.
• Beyond the chassis, the update includes a new floor, tail assembly, and revised flow conditioners on the brakes and rear suspension.
• Alex Albon described it as a "big step," but Carlos Sainz was more measured: "It's more in line with what we should have started the year with."
• Sainz pointed to Williams' low point in Madrid, where the car was 1.5 seconds off the midfield leader. "We're not bringing one and a half seconds to Baku," he said.
• The team has deliberately spaced out updates to manage costs under the budget cap, but that has left it falling out of sync with rivals' development curves.

What's next:

Williams isn't expecting this package to close the entire gap. Albon acknowledges the midfield is upgrading aggressively, so a single big step won't be enough to rejoin that fight. Sainz believes it could take until "halfway through next year" before the team reaches a performance level that reflects its potential. In the meantime, Baku is about gathering data and setting the direction for the 2027 car.