Williams ditches FW45 development to prioritize 2024 challenger

With points scored in 3 different occasions, Williams find themselves seventh in the constructors’ championship.

Williams FW45 (Credits: @WilliamsRacing/Twitter)

F1 teams now factor in the development of the following year’s car when allocating their budget, and with the introduction of the cost cap, this balance has become even more crucial. Heading into 2023, Williams changed leadership, adding James Vowles as team principal. Under his astute leadership, the team has enjoyed remarkable success this season.

Dave Robson, Williams’ head of vehicle performance, suggested that it was about the right time to start focusing on next year’s car. He also mentioned the importance of understanding their current setup, running it through various circuits. While also honing their setup to extract the maximum potential while encouraging the drivers to push the car to its limits.

“It’s now about the right time to start focusing on next year’s car. And also just continuing to understand what we’ve got now, run what we’ve got through a few different types of circuit and just kind of hone our set-up around it,” Dave Robson told the media.

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Alex Albon continues to lead the charge at Williams F1

Alex Albon at the 2023 British Grand Prix (Image credit: WilliamsF1)

After bringing upgrades to their front wing at the British Grand Prix, Williams had an impressive showing at their home race. An eighth-place finish for Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant came home in P11. Despite one-off, extraordinary displays, the Grove team finds it reasonable to shift their focus onto the FW46.

In the same interview, Dave Robson stated that Williams had already delivered most of what was planned regarding performance. He mentioned the upgraded front wing introduced at Silverstone, which would also be used in Spa. However, he added that there might be some minor changes if they emerged from wind tunnel testing and could be swiftly implemented.

Where we expect to be, but it's still all to play for ?@alex_albon debriefs Friday from the #HungarianGP ?️ pic.twitter.com/hIxVTc4Yna
— Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) July 21, 2023

“I think most of what was in the pipeline, we’ve now delivered,” he said.“The front wing we brought to Silverstone and we’ll see that again in Spa. But beyond that, probably just some small things if they come through the wind tunnel and we can make them quite quickly,” he further continued.

10 races into the season, and Williams have already outdone their 2022 form. With a meager eight points scored last year, the British team currently sits P7 in the constructors’ championship with 11 points. Albon securing all the points for his team is P13 in the drivers’ championship, whereas his teammate has yet to score his maiden F1 points.