2023 Williams Racing F1 Team

[Macklaren]

Very excited that Williams of looking on the up. Strong wind tunnel time too. Hoping they can take on Alpine in the mid field next year

[Starscreamer]

Rumors are that Logan get fired and team Williams will look for a replacement.

Mick Schumacher
Nyck de Vries
Frederik Vesti

https://www.gptoday.net/nl/nieuws/f1/27 ... vervangers

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Sargeant was their junior driver promoted from within... Don't see them removing him midseason.

Would have knock-on effect of making it harder for them to land good talents in future and there's little to gain from replacing him mid-season honestly. It's not like Sargeant is racking up millions in crash damage like Mick was last year for instance

[McMika98]

Sergeant is doing a decent job for a rookie, the car is by far the worst in the grid in terms of downforce and he has been close to points.
It's tough because Albon is the lead driver and will get the optimal strategy. He is learning the tracks as well as the car. Mick or Nyck don't offer much more than Sergeant. Even if they were to get a Vesti or Pouchaire or Drugovich, Albon will wipe the floor in similar manner as they will have a lot to learn.

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Sergeant is doing a decent job for a rookie, the car is by far the worst in the grid in terms of downforce and he has been close to points.
It's tough because Albon is the lead driver and will get the optimal strategy. He is learning the tracks as well as the car. Mick or Nyck don't offer much more than Sergeant. Even if they were to get a Vesti or Pouchaire or Drugovich, Albon will wipe the floor in similar manner as they will have a lot to learn.

Sargeant's race pace is quite awful compared to Albon's. It isn't so obvious because they are down the field, but 5 tenths advantage for Albon has been routine at pretty much every weekend. That's... quite a bit more than even Williams expected I think.

Sure he'll probably improve but he's struggling in a big way ATM and it's going under the radar somewhat

He has been completely anonymous on almost every weekend with his only bright sparks being at Bahrain where people rated him favourably for not binning the car on his first weekend and not being a million miles off

Albon is 12-0 in quali H2H and only when he's been compromised in the race by damage has he lost out to Sargeant.

That said, it's the first half of a rookie season. Not everyone is Piastri level, but I did expect more from Sargeant given the car has been capable of some strong points so far this year

The Williams is a better car than AR and AT this year, and will compete for 7th in wdc. With engine penalties for some teams coming in the latter half of the season and races such as Monza and Vegas where Williams should be strong, I just don't see this Williams car as that bad.

[Moctecus]

Sargeant's race pace is quite awful compared to Albon's. It isn't so obvious because they are down the field, but 5 tenths advantage for Albon has been routine at pretty much every weekend. That's... quite a bit more than even Williams expected I think.

I always follow the races with live timing, and Albon is not routinely 0.5 sec/lap faster than Sargeant when they are running in comparable conditions, especially not recently. In the last few races, his race pace has been pretty good, actually. In Silverstone, very good, even. He's generally made a step forwards since getting the new parts. He still isn't putting everything together when he needs to, especially in qualifying, which limits the possible results in a field this close.
Sargeant was always going to need lots of time, I don't think Williams expected otherwise. He didn't have an extensive testing regimen like Oscar Piastri, who did over half a dozen tests on different tracks with Alpine and McLaren over several years. In 2023, 5/6 first tracks are unforgiving street tracks, which is not ideal. Limited practice during sprint weekends doesn't help either.
Sven Smeets, responsible for the Williams Driver Academy, said earlier this year the target for Sargeant was "Progression and to take this season to learn and then be full on for ’24." So he's almost certainly going to get another season.
The likelihood of Williams ditching their American driver whose F2 career they funded before the end of the season for Schumacher, de Vries, or Vesti is zero. This "rumour" is either entirely made up by an outlet, or was planted by a driver's management to create some attention.

[Big Tea]

Sergeant is doing a decent job for a rookie, the car is by far the worst in the grid in terms of downforce and he has been close to points.
It's tough because Albon is the lead driver and will get the optimal strategy. He is learning the tracks as well as the car. Mick or Nyck don't offer much more than Sergeant. Even if they were to get a Vesti or Pouchaire or Drugovich, Albon will wipe the floor in similar manner as they will have a lot to learn.

I don't recall exactly where it was, but in an interview Vowles said they were happy with Sargent's development.
Looking at where they are now, considering the cap, and other drivers available I see the drivers as a good long term prospect for them. Albon has cut his ties with Reb Bull and Sargent is not costing them much in crash damage.
Learn from RBR and see how he is at the end of next year before considering dumping him. He may not make it, but he and the team will be sure it is a driver problem not an organisation problem as it seems to have been for Albon at RBR.


( it may seem as if I am having a swipe at RBR here, but I am not, it is a totally different case )

[McMika98]

https://www.williamsf1.com/videos/f0390 ... ct-belgium

Interesting that the high tyre Deg was due to broken cake tin and not the low downforce setup. Just thinking what could have been possible if they did not have the issue, P7 was definitely possible. Also in hindsight, bad decision on both quali sessions putting them further back.
Damn they can't catch a break or conversely they need to improve their game and not hope on sticking Alex to ridiculous strategies. Few strategic errors this year from a good position, they will need to learn from.

[toraabe]

Sergeant is doing a decent job for a rookie, the car is by far the worst in the grid in terms of downforce and he has been close to points.
It's tough because Albon is the lead driver and will get the optimal strategy. He is learning the tracks as well as the car. Mick or Nyck don't offer much more than Sergeant. Even if they were to get a Vesti or Pouchaire or Drugovich, Albon will wipe the floor in similar manner as they will have a lot to learn.

Sargeant's race pace is quite awful compared to Albon's. It isn't so obvious because they are down the field, but 5 tenths advantage for Albon has been routine at pretty much every weekend. That's... quite a bit more than even Williams expected I think.

Sure he'll probably improve but he's struggling in a big way ATM and it's going under the radar somewhat

He has been completely anonymous on almost every weekend with his only bright sparks being at Bahrain where people rated him favourably for not binning the car on his first weekend and not being a million miles off

Albon is 12-0 in quali H2H and only when he's been compromised in the race by damage has he lost out to Sargeant.

That said, it's the first half of a rookie season. Not everyone is Piastri level, but I did expect more from Sargeant given the car has been capable of some strong points so far this year

The Williams is a better car than AR and AT this year, and will compete for 7th in wdc. With engine penalties for some teams coming in the latter half of the season and races such as Monza and Vegas where Williams should be strong, I just don't see this Williams car as that bad.

Albin is the leader at Williams. They are clearly developing the car to suit his driving style as Verstappen in Red Bull. I am sure after reading this article https://www.google.com/amp/s/racingnews ... emands/amp that he is going the same route.

[Espresso]

Albin is the leader at Williams. They are clearly developing the car to suit his driving style as Verstappen in Red Bull. I am sure after reading this article https://www.google.com/amp/s/racingnews ... emands/amp that he is going the same route.

They should already have a hunch if Sergeant is going to cut it or not.
They don´t have the luxury to be a ´training squad´ and need someone at Albons level or better to keep the ability to improve the team as whole. The question is the ability of a good driver.
If Albon can scrape points....they need a second driver to backup harvesting more points. This will increase the income and ability to grow the team.

They could be blunt and throw in De Vries for 1 or 2 rounds to evaluate him and see if his RB stint was due to the car or his good drive last year was just a fluke. But since I can´t see a real good alternative...they should scan the market for another promising rookie.

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Fantastic article from the race featuring quotes from Albon/vowles that covers their performance so far this weekend

Offers explanation of why they were so quick today and what to expect for tomorrow.

Most interesting aspect is that wind direction played a big part in their car's performance

https://the-race.com/formula-1/mark-hug ... -best-yet/

[Mr Brooksy]

It's nice seeing the team at the pointy end of the grid again, even though no one expects a race win in the very near future... But we seem to be quietly confident about our understanding of the car, and most importantly where it is strong and where it is weak.

It brings some hope that next year's car will be a good step forward. From the articles that have been published, it seems that they are happy with next year's car and even a new design philosophy.

[Mr Brooksy]

So there's been some articles recently about next year's car and even suggestions that they are changing the design philosophy.

That got me thinking, am I correct in my assumption that this car owes it's design linage to the mish mash that Paddy Lowe and the team put together in 2018 (obviously not the under floor philosophy as that changed significantly for 22)? Which dropped us like a rock to dead last in the standings for 4 out of the last 5 years?

[AR3-GP]

Fantastic article from the race featuring quotes from Albon/vowles that covers their performance so far this weekend

Offers explanation of why they were so quick today and what to expect for tomorrow.

Most interesting aspect is that wind direction played a big part in their car's performance

https://the-race.com/formula-1/mark-hug ... -best-yet/

The wind affects all cars though. It's just a scaling term on the downforce since it's effectively increasing the air velocity in dynamics equation.

[organic]

Fantastic article from the race featuring quotes from Albon/vowles that covers their performance so far this weekend

Offers explanation of why they were so quick today and what to expect for tomorrow.

Most interesting aspect is that wind direction played a big part in their car's performance

https://the-race.com/formula-1/mark-hug ... -best-yet/

The wind affects all cars though. It's just a scaling term on the downforce since it's effectively increasing the air velocity in dynamics equation.

And I think these things affect williams more than other teams because they have less downforce and their aero elements' sensitivity. They've had cars more sensitive to wind for a while now - you hear them mention it as an important factor behind their car performance far more than others teams. Zandvoort 2021 had both Williams crash out in qualifying at the same corner due to the wind changing for instance