Vowles explains the Williams 'rocket': “Little load and we are competitive” | FP

The surprise of the year

Together with McLaren, one of the big surprises of last Formula 1 season was Williams. The Grove team managed to go from tenth to seventh place in the Constructors' standings, managing to create a single-seater which – especially on the fastest circuits on the calendar – achieved very important results.

In an interview given to the site Speedcafe it was the same James Vowlesteam principal of the historic British team, explained the 'secret' that allowed the FW45 to beat single-seaters in the championship which – on the eve of the season – appeared better equipped than the Williams car.

Little wing, lots of speed

“We've optimized the car to such a level of efficiency that when you take away the rear wing and the downforce it becomes a very competitive package. – explained the former head of Mercedes strategies – the advantages of having a car set up in this way are exactly those that occurred at Silverstone, Monza and Montreal: once you get to the front, it becomes difficult for others to overtake you“.

Obviously the other side of the coin was the great difficulty experienced on the slower and more tortuous routesin which the low starting aerodynamic load became a problem: “At tracks like Abu Dhabi, Mexico, even Brazil to some extent, we didn't have the downforce that others had“, concluded Vowles.