F1 | Williams: the FW46 is overweight, it costs over 4 tenths per lap

The start of the season so far has not brought great satisfaction for Williams, thanks to a car that, although it has improved in some aspects, has lost its superpowers that had positively characterized the last championship.

If in 2023 Alexander Albon was able to materialize the high top speeds and certain aerodynamic peculiarities of the FW45 by bringing the car to points on various tracks, this year’s car seems more concrete on a varied range of circuits, but without excelling in any area.

Indeed, unlike last year, the new car for the 2024 season has yet to reach the minimum weight limit allowed by the regulation. This was revealed by Team Principal James Vowles, who confirmed how, ironically, the team is currently in difficulty after last winter’s attempts to reduce the weight of the chassis.

Since 2019, in fact, Grove’s cars have always been overweight and, in order to be able to get closer to their rivals, who for better or worse have reached the minimum limit, in some cases also allowing them to add ballast to better balance the car, Williams has pushed on the accelerator. Thanks to a rather aggressive development program, according to Vowles the team managed to shave 14kg off the chassis. An important figure, but clearly this “slimming” process has cost time, contributing not only to the delay seen in the first months of the season, but also to the fact that the team has had to maintain a more conservative approach on other aspects of the car.

The end result, according to Vowles, is that the FW46, in the configuration in which it raced until last Grand Prix, proved to be heavier than last year’s single-seater, which, according to Williams data, cost almost half a second alone for the weight.

“The transformation we carried out between 2023 and 24 was to remove 14 kilos from the chassis. Anyone who knows these numbers will realize that this is an extraordinary feat and the team has done very well. However, the car that we have used this year is slower by about four and a half tenths per lap, every lap, because it is still overweight”, explained Vowles on the eve of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, where Williams will present itself with updates that should start bringing it closer to the minimum weight.

Alex Albon, Williams FW46

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Vowles explained that the extra weight is simply a consequence of certain processes taking place close to the deadline over the winter. This also partially explains why Williams was slow to have a spare chassis, with the third body only arriving for the final round in Miami.

“When things get delayed, you add weight as one of the remedies to get back on track. We added a huge amount of weight, even though the chassis was lighter.”

Although Vowles did not want to provide any details on the specific weight, it is a widespread opinion in F1 that 10 kg of weight is worth approximately three tenths of every ten kilos, which is why the total overweight, according to indications from the Team Principal, should be around 15 kg.

Vowles explained that he had asked Alex Albon not to talk about the issue until now, because the goal is to start a development program to solve the problem. “If you go back and look at the time sheets, and you take away four and a half tenths, you understand why Alex is sitting here frustrated, why I silenced him,” said Vowles, who of course understands the frustration of the driver who expected a more competitive car after the promises of 2023. In fact, the single-seater has been improved from the point of view of dynamics in certain aspects, but clearly the weight factor is an element which, as in the case of the Alpine, does not can be underestimated.

The chassis of the FW45, the 2023 single-seater, from which 14 kg have been removed

Picture of: Giorgio Piola

“I wanted to have the opportunity to say that this is what we did and what we are doing to make up for it. I don’t care what happened. It’s the way we move forward from this point on. So in Imola our program begins to reduce the weight, which will continue over the next six races, basically to get us back to where we should be.”

Vowles said Williams probably won’t be at the weight limit by the end of the next six races, but will be close enough to be satisfied. For the team, clearly, this represents both an opportunity and a problem: if the engineers know where there is margin to get closer to the minimum mass, then it will be easier to find those tenths of performance that will allow Williams to be more competitive. On the other hand, however, having to intervene on the weight issue, with a consequent expense that will affect the budget cap, will limit aerodynamic development, an aspect on which many other teams are focusing.