Williams has announced that it is to miss next week's test at the circuit Barcelona-Catalunya.

While McLaren is to miss the first day of the five-day test, Williams has revealed that it will skip the test entirely.

"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," reads a statement issued by the Grove outfit.

"The team will instead conduct a series of tests including a VTT 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."

The news will only add to speculation that the exclusion of all media not oonly from the Barcelona test, but also the first test in Bahrain, is due to fears of issues as the teams get to grips with the new regulations.

Amidst clams that the car has failed to pass the mandatory crash tests, the team's absence evokes memories of 2019 when the Grove outfit missed the first two and a half days of testing due to the car not being ready.

At the opening race the FW42 was over a second slower than its nearest rival, with neither driver - Robert Kubica and George Russell - getting beyond Q1 over the course of the entire season, and ending the year with just one point, courtesy of Kubica's tenth in Germany.