Williams finished 18th and 19th in Hungarian GP qualifying. Aston Martin, the team that was slower than them just two months ago, finished 16th. If that stings, it should.
The Uncomfortable Truth
Carlos Sainz is doing his best to frame it as motivation. Alex Albon is simply calling it what it is: a wake-up call. Together, they paint a fairly grim picture of where Williams currently sits in the pecking order.
It was the fifth consecutive qualifying session in which Williams had at least one driver eliminated in Q1. Fernando Alonso, meanwhile, reached Q2 for the first time in 2026 after Aston Martin bolted on a radically revised chassis. Their reward: 16th place. Williams’ reward: watching from even further back.
Sainz Sees the Glass Half Full
Sainz, pointless since Canada five rounds ago, is leaning hard into the optimism angle.
“Aston went from having worse downforce, a worse chassis than us in Spa, to having the best midfield downforce right now. It is there for us to go find the solution to add downforce and find the evolution.” – Carlos Sainz
He has urged Williams to use the Aston transformation as a blueprint ahead of the Baku updates in September, which team boss James Vowles has previously described as “almost an entirely new car.” High praise for a car that struggled to even make its Barcelona shakedown.
Albon Is Not Playing Along
Albon’s take was considerably less rosy.
“I don’t know what kind of upgrade Aston had. I could only dream of that. In the corners they are considerably faster than us. It’s eye-opening, and I think we know what our Baku upgrade is. It’s not that. We have work to do.” – Alexander Albon
That last line cuts through any spin rather cleanly. Whatever is coming to Baku, Albon already knows it will not replicate what Aston Martin just delivered in Budapest. Williams are not the only team asking serious questions of themselves this weekend, but they may be the one with the fewest answers.
Baku or Bust
The FW48 has a weight problem, a downforce deficit, and a production history that already forced them to skip a shakedown. Sainz himself admits the Baku upgrade impact remains uncertain: “We still need to see.” For a team pinning its hopes on what Vowles called a near-new car, that is not exactly a ringing endorsement.
Inspiration is a fine thing. But Aston Martin did not turn their season around by looking at someone else’s upgrade and feeling motivated. Williams need results, not a mood board.
