Williams have revealed their livery for the 2026 Formula 1 season.
Tuesday’s reveal comes after the team failed to have their car ready for the first pre-season testing event of 2026, which took place in Barcelona last week.
The FW48 itself will run for the first time at the first Bahrain test on February 11-13.
The livery is predominantly the team’s traditional blue but there is a twist for 2026 with the sidepods featuring a lighter blue, as part of a new tie-up with Barclays, and white.
By finishing fifth in last year’s Constructors’ Championship, Williams delivered their best result since 2017, suggesting the team was finally back on a clear upward trajectory under James Vowles’ leadership.
The introduction of new chassis and power unit regulations for 2026 offers a chance for further progress, but the team’s failure to make it to Barcelona has put them on the back foot.
Their driver line-up of Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon is widely considered to be the strongest outside of the ‘big four’ of McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari, which has only heightened expectations going into F1’s new era.
On missing the running in Barcelona, Vowles said: “We have absolutely pushed the boundaries of what we’re doing in certain areas and one of those is in certain corresponding tests that go with it, but those were only, I would say, a blip in the grand scheme of things.
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Sky Sports F1’s Ted Kravitz and Craig Slater analyse Williams team principal James Vowles’ statement on why the team has fallen behind schedule and are not at Barcelona Shakedown.
“They are one item out of quite a few that were pushing us absolutely beyond the limit of what we can achieve in the space of time that we have available to us, so it’s more of an output than anything else – of pushing not just the boundaries of design but the boundaries of just simply how many components can be pushed through the factory in a very short space of time.”
When is F1 Bahrain pre-season testing?
The introduction of new regulations means there is a robust schedule of three separate testing events before the start of the 2026 season.
With the closed Barcelona Shakedown now complete, F1 will next head to Bahrain for two ‘official’ pre-season tests, when media will be present and live timing from the circuit available.
Two three-day Bahrain tests take place on February 11-13 and 18-20.
When is the first F1 race?
The teams then have two weeks to prepare for the opening round of the season, which is the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne from March 6-8.
The first practice sessions of the season will take place on Friday March 6, with Qualifying on Saturday March 7 and the opening race on Sunday March 8.
Watch every race of the 2026 F1 season live on Sky Sports, starting with the Australian Grand Prix from March 6-8. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
