The Grove team is facing another difficult season, being second to last in the constructors’ standings with 4 points, ahead of a Sauber still stuck at zero points. If we look at 2023 we can argue that the English team has taken a step back, given that Alexander Albon had collected 12 points.
The development of the FW46 had focused on trying to make the car competitive on a wider range of circuits than in 2023, when Williams was comfortable on low-downforce circuits. However, the British team did not make the steps forward hoped for and was also overtaken by Racing Bulls and Haas.
Ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix, which will kick off the second half of the season after the summer break, team principal James Vowles spoke about three areas of development: aerodynamics, suspension design and reducing the weight of the car, which has been the team’s Achilles heel in the first half of 2024.
“We have updates coming during the summer break, hopefully in Zandvoort and hopefully again in Baku or the next race after Baku, which is Singapore,” Vowles said at Spa.
The team’s hope is obviously to return to fighting for points consistently, but how can they achieve this?
“Through a number of things. Aero updates, a suspension update and a reduction in the weight of the car. So it’s basically three main paths that we’re moving through. In the world of Formula 1, it’s huge steps, but my reticence is because now we’ve seen RB do an update and then take it away, Mercedes do an update and take it away. You don’t usually see things like that, the teams are confident in what they’re doing.”
Alex Albon, Williams FW46
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Vowles’ approach, however, remains the same: to revive Williams, it is necessary to look at the long term. For this reason, the team is gradually shifting its attention to 2025, when Carlos Sainz will become Albon’s teammate and take over from Logan Sargeant. The hope is that having a driver of the Spaniard’s caliber can contribute to the growth of the Grove team.
“We’re also investing in ’25, so our car in the wind tunnel is not the 2024 car, but next year’s car for a few months now,” Vowles explained. “The reason we’re doing this is not because I believe in 2025, but because I want the 2026 car to go into the tunnel as soon as possible, while having a reasonably good 2025 season.”
Unlike in the past, Williams is not focusing its attention and developments only on next season, but also with a view to 2026 – and beyond –, when the new regulation could reshuffle the cards on the table.
“Everything we’re doing is basically to bring the focus to 2026 as quickly as possible. With the additional resources, team members are now focused on ’24, ’25, ’26, and a little bit of ’27 at the same time.”
It may seem obvious, but Vowles himself considers it a small but great evolution.
“We were more used to working a year ahead or even the current year. And as you can imagine, when you do something like that across the organization, it takes time to adjust.”
“There is nothing special in what I told you; Mercedes does it, Red Bull does it, but for Williams it is a big change.”
#Vowles #developing #areas #focus
