Williams F1 quickly identified issues with its car in 2023, as explained by the Performance Director, Dave Robson.
Wheel lock-ups were promptly detected, and the team then focused on understanding this recurring problem.
“We left Bahrain knowing what our limits were; the tendency to lock the front inner wheel seemed quite high,” said Robson.
“And it can be very costly and also depends somewhat on the wind, a factor to which Williams remains particularly sensitive.”
“But based on the Bahrain tests, we were able to put some of the parts we had already designed into production, keeping that in mind. So, we saw a constant improvement in the early races, but it’s still a bit of our Achilles’ heel.”
However, Williams struggled to identify issues with the FW45 and realized that the lack of braking support was to blame: “Part of the problem is that we don’t know exactly what’s going on.”
“I think, as always with these things, it’s a combination of everything. We probably can’t put as much aerodynamic support on the front of the car in this phase as we would like.”
“There’s obviously a lot to gain from driving with a relatively stiff car, and once you trigger that lock-up, it has an aerodynamic effect in itself, and you end up in a bit of a spiral.”
“But I think it’s something we’ve got a good handle on, and that’s what we’ve been doing over the past two years. We’ll see in February whether we understand it or not. But I think we’ve taken some decent measures to try and improve it on next year’s car.”
Note: Williams has just announced the presentation time for its car next Monday, February 5. It will take place at 9:40 am in New York, which is 3:40 pm in France, and can be watched live on the Internet.
Official presentation dates for 2024 F1 cars:
- February 2 – Haas F1 VF-24 at 3 pm (livery, online)
- February 5 – Williams F1 FW46 at 3:40 pm (New York)
- February 5 – Stake F1 Team (London)
- February 7 – Alpine F1 A524 (location still unknown)
- February 8 – Visa Cash App RB (Las Vegas)
- February 11 – Haas F1 VF-24 (shakedown)
- February 12 – Aston Martin F1 AMR24 (Silverstone)
- February 13 – Ferrari SF-24 (Maranello)
- February 14 – Mercedes F1 W15 (Silverstone)
- February 14 – McLaren F1 MCL38 (location still unknown)
- February 15 – Red Bull RB20 (location still unknown)
