Williams have confirmed that they will not appear at the upcoming Barcelona Shakedown, citing their focus on achieving "maximum car performance" for 2026. The shakedown, held from January 26–30 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, offers teams extra track time ahead of the usual pre-season testing in Bahrain, helping them transition to the updated regulations.
While Williams will skip the event, they will carry out private testing to stay on schedule for the first official Bahrain test from February 11–13. The team plans to run a series of internal programmes, including Virtual Track Testing (VTT), which allows them to simulate various track conditions and refine car setups without being on the circuit.
In an official statement, the team said:
"Atlassian Williams F1 Team has taken the decision not to participate in next week’s shakedown test in Barcelona following delays in the FW48 programme as we continue to push for maximum car performance.
The team will instead conduct a series of tests including a VTT [Virtual Track Testing] programme next week with the 2026 car to prepare for the first official test in Bahrain and the first race of the season in Melbourne.
We are looking forward to getting on track in the coming weeks and want to thank all our fans for your continued support – there is a lot to look forward to together in 2026."
