By Carlo Platella
The constructors’ standings certainly do not smile on Williams, with only four points to their name that are worth the penultimate place. However, the Grove team’s results must be contextualized in light of the serious organizational and infrastructural delay that Team Principal James Vowles is trying to fill. A task that is detrimental to immediate performance, forcing Williams to show up at the start of the championship with a still overweight carDespite this, the FW46 is not far from the points zone, demonstrating the excellent work done from an aerodynamic point of view.
A revolution paid in kilos
The technological backwardness into which the team had fallen under previous management is evident in Williams’ chronic difficulty in aligning itself with the minimum weight of the regulations. “Since my arrival, every year none of the cars started from the minimum weight”, James Vowles told in Imola. “The start of the transformation was to lighten the chassis by 14 kilos from 2023 to 2024. However, this year’s car still pays four and a half tenths per lap for the excess weight”.
Recovering 14 kilos from the chassis is a huge effort by modern Formula 1 standards. Yet, the same infrastructural modernization work is cost almost another 5 tenths of delay on the 2024 single-seater. Vowles continues: “When you want to change a system and the technologies in use, there are delays. To get back on time you end up increasing the weight and we have done this a lot, even though the body is much better from this point of view.” During the first part of the season Williams made a significant effort to shed excess weight, with a major weight reduction effort that began in Imola and continued in the subsequent series of European races.
The new concept
Williams is among the teams that have improved their performance the most in the leap from 2023 to 2024, behind only McLaren and Racing Bulls. The Grove team has gained about 1 second in qualifying thanks mainly to the work done on the aerodynamics and mechanics of the vehicle. In fact, despite the 14 kg less from the bodywork potentially being worth half a second, the FW46 from the beginning of the year still paid for over 4 tenths for the extra weight accumulated in other areas.
The 2023 car was characterised by a particular driving style, with marked instability under braking, in slow corners and in fast, wide-radius corners. However, the DNA of the FW46 soon revealed itself to be different from that of its predecessor, as Albon commented since the tests: “From a kinematic point of view, the way the front of the car feels is completely different. it’s all completely new, totally redesignedso the feedback you get in your hands is totally different. Now we have a Mercedes rear, so it’s very different.”
More recently, however, it was Sargeant who expressed his opinion on the differences with last year: “There have been some major changes to the car that have changed the main negative characteristics of last year, shifting the weaknesses to other areas. The car is definitely more cohesive than last season.”. As Albon revealed on the eve of the Austrian Grand Prix, Williams had been studying a different car concept for some time: “The concept for this year’s car started last year during free practice in Barcelona. We were experimenting with a new philosophy for this season’s car. We knew some things were good and some things were not. Barcelona exposed some areas that we would have to adapt with this year’s car and we are still working on them.”
Updates coming soon
Twelve months later, the Spanish Grand Prix was still a tough one for the English team. Looking beyond the results alone, however, the progress is tangible: “Surely we gained a lot from the guide”, Albon’s response. “We can get closer to the limit, especially in the low-speed corners, where we have made a big step forward. However, there are still some medium-high speed corners where we need to work and our focus is on that.”
It is no coincidence that Williams scored 2 of its 4 points in the standings in Monte Carlo, on the track that par excellence exalts the behavior in slow corners. The other points came in the home race in Silverstone, where the team had already performed well in 2023. “With all the changes made to the car compared to last year we still see similar trends”reflects Albon. “Even though our limits are in different areas to last year, the highs and lows coincide with the same tracks. There are similarities between the car this season and last. The more extreme characteristics have been smoothed out, but there are similarities between the comments from the two seasons.”
The FW46 has remained largely the same as at the beginning of the year, with very few updates brought to the car. If Williams has managed to maintain a constant gap from the top, it is thanks to the tenths gained thanks to the progressive lightening of the car. Behind the scenes, however, work has continued on aerodynamic improvements expected shortly. “We have brought almost no updates, only a front wing to Japan. Apart from that, the rest of the development has been almost only about weight. From a certain point of view I think it is positive, because we have not introduced anything new yet and we can still compete for points, but We have updates coming soon”concludes Albon.
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