> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.the-race.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Too little too late? What's resting on Williams's Baku upgrade - URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/too-little-too-late-whats-resting-on-williamss-baku-upgrade/ - Published: 2026-09-23T05:06:29.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-23T05:06:29.000Z - Description: Williams has fallen well short of expectations in F1 2026. It has a major upgrade package for the Azerbaijan GP, but is it too little too late? - Author: The Race Team - Tags: Formula 1, #williams, #secondary_feature_1 After declaring for so long that the main focus of its rebuilding programme was being ready to capitalise on Formula 1's major 2026 regulation changes, Williams has tumbled backwards in the season when it had promised to leap forwards. Fifth in the constructors' championship and a podium finisher last year, now it's ninth in the standings on only 11 points (59 fewer than at this stage, after 14 rounds, in 2025), and has been only the ninth-fastest car on average this year, an average of 2.8% down on single-lap pace. This weekend it's bringing a major upgrade package to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, focused largely on weight reduction but also featuring aerodynamic changes. Is it too little too late, though? Edd Straw, Ben Anderson and Samarth Kanal debated Williams's big Baku weekend on the latest episode of [The Race F1 Podcast](https://shows.acast.com/the-race-f1-podcast?ref=the-race.com). ## How big will the Baku step be? **Ben Anderson**: We know that carrying excess weight is like giving away free laptime, isn't it? So they should make a step but I don't think it will make an absolutely life-changing one - unless they're taking out something like 40kg or 50kg, some nonsensical amount. I don't think it's going to completely change their world. I'd like to think they might get back into that zone of kind of fighting with whichever is the best of the Haases on a given weekend, whichever one of those cars is trying to be at the bottom of Q2. I think the Williams is actually the 10th-best car and the fact it's got the Mercedes power unit flatters it and really exposes them as a team. So they desperately need to see a big step on the chassis side. **Edd Straw**: Ultimately, a lot of what they're doing for Baku is what I'd sort of call the standard housekeeping stuff because you want to be on or in fact under the weight limit. And apparently this will put them under the weight limit. So that'll allow them a little bit of ballast, which is useful to have for making sure you've got the ballast within the allowed window where you want it to be. But ultimately, while that's a load of performance, that's really only getting them back to where they should have been much earlier in the season. So whatever they do this year, they're still really playing catch-up and just eliminating some of the negatives. It's just one step really, isn't it? You just need to see the performance improvement. It's not going to suddenly turn into a top-six car by any stretch of the imagination or even a Q3 car. **Samarth Kanal**: They are so far behind now that this is all catching up. Rival midfield teams have completely outdeveloped them, left them standing still. and now Williams is so far behind that I think this upgrade can only put them at the bottom of that midfield set. There's such a fundamental issue in car balance, the whole aero map needs to probably be redone. That's going to need an incredibly drastic update - that's more for 2027 than 2026. ## Managing expectations **BA**: They've been talking it down actually since Aston Martin bought their B-spec car to Hungary and kind of wowed certainly Williams and Haas with the step they took there. I think before Aston Martin did what they did, Williams were a bit more bullish about what they were expecting from Baku. Now there's been a lot of expectation management. I think that's a reasonable thing to do because compared to expectations of Williams this year, they've been pretty much embarrassing. This is very much the 2023 into 2024 cycle repeating. And that's the thing I really worry about with Williams. It's like we've been here before. They came out of it really well in 2025, but then 2025 was all about 'we're in the windtunnel with the 2026 car really early, our baseline now is to be top of the midfield and then look to bridge the gap'. And they've just fallen way off that track. --- **More on Williams's 2026 struggles** - ['Everything was on fire' - Williams's F1 2026 disaster laid bare](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/everything-was-on-fire-williamss-f1-2026-confessions/) - [Don't expect Williams's upgrade to make it competitive](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/dont-expect-williamss-upgrade-to-make-it-competitive/) --- **ES**: James Vowles, the team principal, said at the start of the season that their new baseline is the fifth place they got last year. So they've fallen short by their own standards and there's all sorts of reasons for that. The car was late. Obviously it's overweight, downforce isn't there and the high rake concept didn't work, there are handling troubles, this sort of three-wheeling problem that's been persistent over a number of years that they're still battling. ## What happens next **ES**: To judge them, we need to see what they do at the start of next year. That for me is the critical thing because they've got to eliminate the problems with being late. They've got to be on the weight. They've got to have the right aero package and be performing decently in that midfield at the very least. Because if they're not there, then that's when you really start to sound the alarm bells.