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Williams is still trying to get its FW46 down to Formula 1’s weight limit, bringing upgrades. However, the Monaco Grand Prix proved the team’s potential.
Albon secured Williams’ first points of the year (Image Credit: Marco Canoniero/LightRocket via Getty Images)The Grove-based outfit have endured a difficult start to its 2024 campaign. Albon was able to secure the team’s first points of the season with a ninth-place finish at the Monaco Grand Prix.
The FW46 is still over the weight limit by some margin. The team made an effort to lose 14kg out of its car compared to last year’s FW44. However, the British team still requires to reduce its chassis weight by a similar number to get to the minimum weight limit of 798kg.
The additional weight on the FW46 is estimated to cost Williams 0.450s on a more traditional circuit. This has hidden some of the progress the team has achieved with upgrades this year.
However, Monaco showed the upgrades that were hidden with the weight issue with Albon’s points finish and Q3 appearance.
Monaco showed Williams’ potential
As the streets of Monte Carlo is a tight street circuit, the layout was less harsh on Williams’ excess weight. The weekend showed Williams’ potential, with the Grove-based team only needing to shave off weight to become more consistent.
“On paper, this track is the least weight penalising track of the year,” Albon said. “I think Monza is the most and Monaco is the least.
“It makes it not fair game, but a fairer game around here. Also, the DNA of the car has changed a lot from last year. And if you think about the areas we tried to focus on, it was low-speed, tight corners, which is exactly what this track is.”
Albon was asked whether his points finish in Monaco was a peak of Williams’ potential once the weight has been shaved off. The Thai driver responded:
“It is, but weight is not that easy to lose. At least it isn’t for us.”
“So, we’ve got some work to do to try to shake it off. But we’ve known that. We know our deltas every weekend when we compare where we are to where we could have been.
“We do need to fix some parts and try to not be overweight because I think we could have performances like this a little bit more often.”
Albon believes the team will struggle in the next races (Image Credit: Alessio Morgese/NurPhoto via Getty Images)Tough to out-develop rivals
Another issue the Grove-based team has encountered is crash damage. The team was forced to make Logan Sargeant sit out of the Australian Grand Prix after Albon crashed, as there was no spare chassis.
Damage cost also eats into the budget cap. Therefore, the team’s Head of Vehicle Performance Dave Robson believes it will be difficult to out-devlop its closest rivals due to production delays and crash damage.
“Where we are now, it’s quite difficult,” he said. “It’s a shame we weren’t able to bring the updates earlier, build on the pace and the underlying qualities of the car at the start of the season.
“I think now we are probably fighting with Sauber most of the time. The car will get lighter as we go on and there are some mechanical and some aero updates that will that will come.
“But it’s a bit hard to see how we will out-develop those teams over the course of the next five or six months because they’ve already got a bit of a head start on us.”
Williams find themselves in eighth in the constructors’ chmapionship – level on points with Alpine in ninth.
Feature Image Credit: James Sutton – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images