At Silverstone we finally saw a Williams capable of fighting for the points zone, with a ninth place of great significance for the team, which thus also extended its lead in the standings over Sauber, which remained at zero points after half the championship.
Before arriving in Britain, there was some uncertainty at Williams about the potential of the FW46, particularly as the result in the Spanish round had been slightly below the team’s expectations.
However, as James Vowles explained, during the triptych of the events in Spain, Austria and Great Britain, the Grove team managed to improve its performances by working mainly on the suspension in view of the home race, although this does not entirely explain the leap forward seen at Silverstone.
Yuki Tsunoda, VCARB 01, Alex Albon, Williams FW46
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar
“During the triptych we managed to improve performance by working especially on the suspension at Silverstone. This clearly helped, but it doesn’t explain the difference between Barcelona and Silverstone, there is something that is directly linked to certain characteristics of the car,” James Vowles said in the in-depth video released by the team.
“After Silverstone we noticed some things which is the most important aspect, understanding why in some events we are slower and in others we are faster. Understanding this aspect will allow us to be faster during the year”.
“The updates clearly don’t happen overnight, for example the ones at Silverstone took between four and six weeks to complete. But it’s understanding the use of the chassis and the tyres that can help you understand how to make a step forward.”
Like last season’s car, the FW46 also digests some tracks better than others and, right at Silverstone, last year’s single-seater showed one of its best performances. Although the car of this championship is no longer the “missile” of 2023 on the straights, it has still retained certain characteristics, in particular the competitiveness on the wide-open throttle sections and with low temperatures, which make it easier to manage the tyres.
Logan Sargeant, Williams FW46
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Albon’s ninth place is certainly an encouraging sign for the team, also because, in reality, there would have been the potential for a double points finish with Logan Sargeant having been a bit more careful, not only on the timing of the pit stop, but also on the choice of compounds for the final stint. “The Silverstone weekend gives us confidence that we can get a double top ten over the course of the season, but to do that we need to make sure we develop the car, more than we did at Silverstone,” explained Vowles.
The drivers have not hidden the fact that, at this moment, Williams would actually need technical innovations that will give life to the FW46, which at the moment has lagged behind in terms of updates. In fact, it is no mystery that, given the delays accumulated during the winter, even the production of some parts has slowed down, having to work both to reduce weight and to improve aerodynamic performance.
The “diet” for the single-seater began in Imola, with the first useful innovations to reduce the mass and get closer to the minimum limit imposed by the FIA and, although these updates will continue in the next races, as admitted by James Vowles, the most important aerodynamic updates will arrive only after the summer break: “We will not have updates in Budapest and Spa. Maybe there will be some small changes to adapt to the tracks, some small elements, including something to reduce the weight, but the real step in terms of performance will only come after the summer break. I think other teams will do the same. Our goal is to ensure that the updates we bring are worth more than those of our rivals”, added the Team Principal.
In fact, towards mid-June, Vowles himself had actually underlined how a very substantial package should probably have arrived after the trio, but in the end it was decided to postpone it until after the summer break, to ensure that the updates brought to the track are as effective as possible, especially from a performance-cost point of view.
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