F1 | Williams Irregular: Bargeboard Step Cut by 3mm

Alxander Albon was disappointed after Zandvoort: the Anglo-Thai Williams driver finished the race in 14th place, lapped, because he had to start at the back of the grid for the Dutch GP due to the disqualification that cancelled out his time in Q3 and that had placed him in ninth position on the track. “I could have been in a battle with Pierre Gasly – explained Albon – fighting for the ninth position that was within our reach and, instead, I ended up in a fight at the back of the group having to always race in dirty air”.

Williams brought a substantial package of updates to the championship restart, allowing the FW46 to make a leap in quality, being able to count on a reduction in weight and an increase in aerodynamic load. The car has been revised in the design of the vents of the sidepods, in the bottom and in the area of ​​the engine cover with a redesigned roll hoop.

Logan Sargeant jumps out of Williams FW46 after serious FP3 crash at Zandvoort

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

If Logan Sargeant disintegrated his car in FP3 (putting the availability of spare parts at risk after the third serious accident of the season) and was relegated to the last row with no time, as he skipped qualifying to give his mechanics time to rebuild the FW46 (only the chassis was saved, everything else was demolished…), Alexander Albon ended up there at the bottom due to a serious technical irregularity that was found by Jo Bauer’s staff after the timed session on Saturday.

In fact, the Williams, when tested, was found to be non-compliant with the floor volume. The FIA ​​stewards performed a scan of the FW46 which was found to exceed the permitted measurements for the width of the pavement by 3 mm. Initially, it was said that the irregularity concerned the floor in front of the rear wheels.

Motorsport.com, however, reports that the anomaly emerged in the front part of the floor and more specifically involved the large bargeboard that characterizes the entrance to the Venturi channels. This is a very important element that serves to prevent front wheel losses, i.e. the turbulence that is generated, from dirtying the flow path intended to create aerodynamic load in the floor.

Williams Team Principal James Vowles discusses Albon’s exclusion in qualifying with the engineers on the pit wall

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

This flow diverter has a complex and non-linear design: it seems that the lip at the foot of the bargeboard protruded 3 mm beyond the regulation limit, which is why Bauer made the inevitable report of the irregularity to the Stewards of the Race in Zandvoort who decreed the exclusion of Albon, with the inevitable embarrassment of the team principal, James Vowles.

Williams technicians had taken care to show the FIA ​​their scans of the car carried out first in the factory at Grove and then in the garage at Zandvoort from which it resulted that all the parts were perfectly legal. Evidently there is something wrong with the calibration of the team’s data collection system. The mechanics, therefore, were forced to file down the small step that distinguishes the FW46 at the foot of the flow deviator. The images of George Piola they show us the regulation version above and, below, the one with the protruding and therefore irregular lip.

Detail of the irregular bargeboard of the Williams FW46 which was filed down for the race

Photo by: George Piola

The mistake was serious for a team trying to get back on track: the Grove technical office designed and built an element that was not up to standard and then the quality control area did not see the irregularity even though several scans of the car were performed. It is clear that in the manufacturing processes some interventions are necessary to avoid further embarrassments…