Closing the 2023 season in seventh place in the Constructors' World Championship was only the first real step towards recovery. At Williams they really believe in this and the team leaders are working to continue the restructuring of a team that, just 12 months ago, lost Jost Capito and François-Xavier Demaison in one fell swoop.
The arrival of James Vowles from Mercedes was a very important signal for the team. Although late, the presence of the former engineer from Brackley helped the Grove team finish in seventh place in the Constructors' World Championship, resisting AlphaTauri's great final comeback.
Another prospective move was made by hiring Pat Fry from Alpine to take on the role of technical director. The former Ferrari and McLaren technical director has arrived at Grove to help the English team progress further in the coming seasons. It is unlikely that he will have a major hand in the 2024 project, but his presence has nevertheless resulted in important changes.
“This year I got to a point where we could still have an impact on the car, but next year it's really about putting our minds together to completely change direction. And I can't wait to see how it plays out in four or five months,” Vowles said.
“Plus, I've got Pat by my side now. He knows how, he's revered up and down the track, ask anyone close enough and you'll have a good guy like Pat.”
“We won't change our chassis, but with the direction we've taken there are still things we can fine-tune before we get to Bahrain.”
“He's obviously just joined the team and I think he's settling in very quickly,” Albon said. “I feel like he's understanding the areas where we need to improve and will provide guidance and leadership to the team, so I'm very excited to have him on board.”
Williams finished seventh in 2023 after ending development of its car early, holding off a late challenge from a resurgent AlphaTauri. Alexander Albon hopes this approach will bear fruit in 2024.
“I think we sacrificed a lot this year to focus on next year's car, we haven't made updates for a long time compared to our rivals,” he added.
“This can only be a good thing. We did the bare minimum to finish in P7 and now we look to next year.”
“Obviously having Pat on board [sarà d’aiuto]and for James it will be the first real year in which he will have real leadership in the development of the car, so we'll see.”
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