Williams boss James Vowles insists the team will be on track at the start of Formula 1's Bahrain test next month after the "incredibly painful" decision to skip the private Barcelona test.
Williams skipped F1's behind-closed-doors event this week having fallen behind in its car development for the new season.
Since taking over as boss, Vowles had said 2023, 2024 and 2025 were all a write-off in his eyes while he looked at fixing the team's outdated infrastructure ahead of the sweeping rule changes coming in for 2026, but the missed Shakedown has raised significant questions about the team's readiness for those very regulations.
Vowles said the missed Barcelona running was the price Williams has paid for an aggressive approach to car development.
"It clearly wasn't our plan and it's incredibly painful," Vowles told select media on Wednesday about the decision.
"But I do want it to be acknowledged it's the result of our determination to push the limits of performance under the new regulations. We are transforming here at Williams, and fast, and one of the the tasks that have been on my shoulders for a few years is making sure we transform this business out of the absolute maximum rate possible.
"In my experience the only way you achieve that is pushing the boundaries and limits hard and aggressively and find your limitations there's no point being just underneath the curve. If you want to transform at speed you need to find the pain points and put them right very quickly which is exactly what we're doing."
Vowles went on to confirm that Williams' new car has passed the FIA crash tests required to be allowed to test and that it is now on schedule for the first official F1 test which starts on Feb. 11.
"I'm confident in our decision to miss Barcelona and I'm confident it was the right one to prepare for the first test in Bahrain and Melbourne I'm pleased to say that we've passed all necessary tests and we're ready to run in Bahrain".
Williams will also conduct a 100 kilometre filming day -- as is allowed under the regulations -- ahead of the first test to complete the first laps with its behind-schedule car.
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Vowles said the team could have pushed to make the test event this week but it would have jepordised the start of the racing season itself. "In doing so I would have had to turn upside down the impact on spares, components and updates across Bahrain, Melbourne and beyond," he said.
Vowles explained that the team has instead utilised Virtual Track Tests - which simulate track conditions to test the car's aerodynamics, suspension, and engine on a basic rig of the car - instead, reasoning that those were arguably a better gauge of where the car is right now than "running in a cold, damp Barcelona".
Vowles insisted his drivers, Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon, are frustrated but knew the challenge Williams was facing going into the new era of the sport.
"They're clearly, as I am, disappointed," Vowles said. "They're racing drivers, they want to be out there testing the car and whilst they're in our driver simulator in tandem now to increase that programme, it isn't the same. But they also both signed up not the journey of 12 months or one year but a team that wants to fight back up to the top and some of these dangers I warned both of them of beforehand and they need to be by my side as I take them [there]."
Everyone bar Williams and Aston Martin have completed running of some kind in Barcelona this week, where teams can drive on a maximum of three of the five available days. Aston Martin said in a statement earlier this week its "intention" is to start running on Thursday.
Vowles was more guarded when asked directly about the car's weight, following rumours which have circulated over the past week about the car being significantly above the maximum weight requirement.
"There's no knowledge of the weight until we get to Bahrain to in terms of understand where it is it's simply that's not avoiding the question but you need to get all the sensor packs off to actually understand where we are.
"I think it's a very aggressive weight target [we've set]. Anything you see out there... there's not a single person that would truly know. It's impossible to know it because you need the car together without sensors in the right form and that doesn't exist today.
"If we end up being over the weight target and from that point onwards it would be an aggressive programme to get it off but I think right now anything that you're seeing is murmurings in the media are murmurings."
