2023 Williams Racing F1 Team

[mwillems]

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.

Some cars are more susceptible to changes and how they are compatible with the cars operating window. The Mclaren was noted for it's sensitive at the rear to certain directions of wind just a few years back, something which has been resolved somewhat.

I'd like to see Williams make some ground as such a historic and lauded team in F1.

Nice to see Albon up top again, despite many across these Forums constantly regarding him as overrated, he seems to be growing every race. If Williams can keep up the progress then perhaps they could persuade Ricciardo next year, if they were interested?

[organic]

[Big Tea]

Nice to read thigs like this rather than just slagging the drivers or keeping quiet about it. The more I read of him the more I think Vowles is going to be a very good team leader.

[FW17]

Nice to read thigs like this rather than just slagging the drivers or keeping quiet about it. The more I read of him the more I think Vowles is going to be a very good team leader.

But surely there is no benefit to keeping Logan Sargent around. Williams should look to secure the 7th place by getting a better driver to that seat.

[organic]

Nice to read thigs like this rather than just slagging the drivers or keeping quiet about it. The more I read of him the more I think Vowles is going to be a very good team leader.

But surely there is no benefit to keeping Logan Sargent around. Williams should look to secure the 7th place by getting a better driver to that seat.

The benefit would be to demonstrate that they will always give their junior drivers from their program a proper shot. In the long run this can be worth it as they will then get access to a higher tier of talent who is willing to race in williams' junior program who always give their drivers a fair go

This sort of thing may be why RB don't really get the top talents coming through their program recently. They see RB is more of a pipeline rather than a program that aims to develop its drivers

Logan should've been in F2 again this season really, if you look at his career trajectory. Williams took him early because it made sense with them not being that keen to keep Latifi and not seeing anyone that they desperately wanted elsewhere. If alpha tauri don't pick up de Vries maybe Sargeant does that extra F2 year.

So really 2024 is the year that's critical for Sargeant. It's expensive for them in 2023 which is far from ideal but I feel they can take some short term hit to preserve the long term integrity of that junior program pull

[FW17]

Nice to read thigs like this rather than just slagging the drivers or keeping quiet about it. The more I read of him the more I think Vowles is going to be a very good team leader.

But surely there is no benefit to keeping Logan Sargent around. Williams should look to secure the 7th place by getting a better driver to that seat.

The benefit would be to demonstrate that they will always give their junior drivers from their program a proper shot. In the long run this can be worth it as they will then get access to a higher tier of talent who is willing to race in williams' junior program who always give their drivers a fair go

This sort of thing may be why RB don't really get the top talents coming through their program recently. They see RB is more of a pipeline rather than a program that aims to develop its drivers

Logan should've been in F2 again this season really, if you look at his career trajectory. Williams took him early because it made sense with them not being that keen to keep Latifi and not seeing anyone that they desperately wanted elsewhere. If alpha tauri don't pick up de Vries maybe Sargeant does that extra F2 year.

So really 2024 is the year that's critical for Sargeant. It's expensive for them in 2023 which is far from ideal but I feel they can take some short term hit to preserve the long term integrity of that junior program pull

If Sargent is not ready, they could always continue his development in F2 and bring him back to F1 a little later.

Sargent being in F1 at the moment is not doing him or Williams any good.

Them dropping him for rest of the year from F1 and continuing support in other categories is not going to damage Williams Jr. program

While keeping him and loosing some good point scoring positions, and 7th in the WCC could be more determent to staff moral and likely sponsorship opportunities.

[organic]

But surely there is no benefit to keeping Logan Sargent around. Williams should look to secure the 7th place by getting a better driver to that seat.

The benefit would be to demonstrate that they will always give their junior drivers from their program a proper shot. In the long run this can be worth it as they will then get access to a higher tier of talent who is willing to race in williams' junior program who always give their drivers a fair go

This sort of thing may be why RB don't really get the top talents coming through their program recently. They see RB is more of a pipeline rather than a program that aims to develop its drivers

Logan should've been in F2 again this season really, if you look at his career trajectory. Williams took him early because it made sense with them not being that keen to keep Latifi and not seeing anyone that they desperately wanted elsewhere. If alpha tauri don't pick up de Vries maybe Sargeant does that extra F2 year.

So really 2024 is the year that's critical for Sargeant. It's expensive for them in 2023 which is far from ideal but I feel they can take some short term hit to preserve the long term integrity of that junior program pull

If Sargent is not ready, they could always continue his development in F2 and bring him back to F1 a little later.

Sargent being in F1 at the moment is not doing him or Williams any good.

Them dropping him for rest of the year from F1 and continuing support in other categories is not going to damage Williams Jr. program

While keeping him and loosing some good point scoring positions, and 7th in the WCC could be more determent to staff moral and likely sponsorship opportunities.

Realistically the Williams car is now far ahead of Haas/Alfa Romeo/Alpha Tauri. There is no chance even with only Albon scoring for them to lose 7th in WCC imo. Anytime Haas qualify up the order they fly backwards and Williams have been quite rapid for the last 5 races.

Who is the obvious candidate that should they put in the car that would be guaranteed to do a better job?

De Vries is not available as he is still under contract with RB until the end of the year & they wouldn't want to hurt alpha tauri by strengthening Williams

[FW17]

Romain Grosjean

[organic]

Romain Grosjean

[FW17]

Romain Grosjean

Not a step up?

[organic]

Romain Grosjean

Not a step up?

Replacing Sargeant for his crashing with the notorious crasher of the hybrid era would be a sideways step

I agree that Grosjean would perform a lot better when he's driving well and probably score points though, so maybe not daft. He's just not the most consistent either.

I just get the feeling vowles would value building a great 'togetherness' atmosphere rather than seek the extra few tenths by changing driver midseason. Williams has faced criticism for a long time of having a toxic attitude and I feel that is changing recently & we are seeing results continue to improve at the same time

Besides, the idea of sending him back to F2 and then later taking him back... I don't think Sargeant's F1 chances would recover from being dropped midseason. A bit like how Gasly never returned to RB after being dropped from the main team. Confidence shattered & when it comes time to call Sargeant back up maybe the driver market is far more open and someone like an Alonso/Perez is open to the move to Williams.

[FW17]

Not a step up?

Replacing Sargeant for his crashing with the notorious crasher of the hybrid era would be a sideways step

I agree that Grosjean would perform a lot better when he's driving well and probably score points though, so maybe not daft. He's just not the most consistent either.

I just get the feeling vowles would value building a great 'togetherness' atmosphere rather than seek the extra few tenths by changing driver midseason. Williams has faced criticism for a long time of having a toxic attitude and I feel that is changing recently & we are seeing results continue to improve at the same time

Besides, the idea of sending him back to F2 and then later taking him back... I don't think Sargeant's F1 chances would recover from being dropped midseason. A bit like how Gasly never returned to RB after being dropped from the main team. Confidence shattered & when it comes time to call Sargeant back up maybe the driver market is far more open and someone like an Alonso/Perez is open to the move to Williams.

How is it a step sideways? Both Sargent and Grosjean will crash the same amount, but the days he does not crash, he will be a lot closer to Albon.

F1 is ruthless in every aspect, if they forget that they will end up last. Keeping a poorly performing driver is not going to do anything for the togetherness.

[Big Tea]

Nice to read thigs like this rather than just slagging the drivers or keeping quiet about it. The more I read of him the more I think Vowles is going to be a very good team leader.

But surely there is no benefit to keeping Logan Sargent around. Williams should look to secure the 7th place by getting a better driver to that seat.

I did not mean for the one particular driver but rather the approach to the driver not stepping up and performing straight off. It probably has an effect on Albon and others in the team too. A 'family' atmosphere where the people have to concentrate on what they actually need to do not make it look good for the boss.
There obviously comes a time when they see things are not working out, but who knows, he may be a slow starter. (or not lol)

[scuderiafan]

Sargeant has performed well in Austria and Silverstone where the car was forecasted to be quick, and capitalized (in Q2) in Zandvoort when the car wasn't. Next up is Monza, and it's THE chance for Williams to score. Let's see how Sargeant fares in Italy, it can be a springboard for rookies.

[skoop]

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?

No, next years car will be an evolution of this years car. They plan to make a big step in 2025 when they will be able to benefit from new / updated tools and infrastructure. It is mentioned in the last paragraph of this AMuS article:
https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/for ... ng-wunder/