Formula 1 News: Williams Struggles with Excess Weight, Aiming for Season Fix
As the 2024 Formula 1 season got underway, Williams Racing faced a significant challenge with their launch car, which tipped the scales at a considerable excess weight. Despite shedding 14kg during the off-season, the FW46 was still 4-5 tenths per lap slower than its optimal pace.
A revised floor and other parts were introduced from Imola onwards, with Alex Albon’s side of the garage benefiting from the weight reduction. However, teammate Logan Sargeant is still waiting for the lighter floor to be implemented on his car.
Albon struggled to keep the weight issue under wraps until team principal James Vowles revealed it to the press in Imola. The driver explained that it was tough to reconcile the team’s progress with their disappointing results, largely due to the excess weight.
“It was hard because you guys were asking me what the difference was with last year’s car, and I was telling you it’s better, but we were running around in P19 and P20,” Albon said in Montreal. “I kind of had to bite my lip a little bit, but it was mostly down to it. There are still things in our car that we need to improve, I’m not denying that, but it was always very hard to answer your questions.”
Although the Imola upgrades brought some relief, Albon’s car remains overweight by a significant amount. Fortunately, recent circuits have been less punishing, allowing the team to capitalize on their progress. The British driver secured Williams’ first points of the season with a ninth-place finish in Monaco and was on course for another top-10 result in Canada until a collision with Carlos Sainz’s spinning car.
“We’re still overweight and by a good amount,” Albon admitted. “Monaco I think is the least sensitive to weight, and Canada is the fourth least sensitive to weight, so good tracks. Barcelona goes the other way, so we just need to make the most of these moments until the weight does come out of the car. There’s a big push to try to get it on weight before the end of the season, but it is going to be tough.”
Looking ahead to the Spanish Grand Prix at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Albon expects a more challenging test for the team. While the new maximum downforce rear wing introduced in Monaco should help, he’s not anticipating a drastic change in their fortunes at a circuit that has historically been one of Williams’ weaker tracks.
“Barcelona will just be about trying to optimise our car. It’s max downforce, which is similar to Monaco, so our big rear wing works quite well. It’s quite efficient,” he explained. “I’m not expecting some magic switches [in the pecking order], I’m just hoping we’ve got a car that’s a bit more consistent. Barcelona has predominantly been one of the worst circuits for us. I know we say that about a lot of tracks, but it really is one of the worst ones. I’ll be interested to see if we’re okay in Barcelona now or maybe we’re actually good.”
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