CaribouBread wrote: ↑05 Feb 2024, 17:45
Hopefully they've pivoted to a more balanced downforce profile from their longstanding straightline emphasis.
Contrary to popular belief, most of Williams's recent cars were not great in a straight line. In fact, they had the draggiest car on the grid for years.
Their 2014–2017 cars emphasized low drag over maximum downforce, with decreasing amounts of effectiveness.
But for 2018, Williams shifted towards a higher drag concept in search for more downforce. From then on, they suffered from high drag and poor aero efficiency.
George Russell about the 2019 car:
"Everybody knows we're struggling with downforce, but probably not a lot of people know that we have an incredible amount of drag on the car as well, [it is] incredibly slow in the straights.
"[At Spa] we were up to two seconds slower on the straight versus the quickest cars, a second slower on the straight versus anyone else. So it was incredibly difficult for us.
And about the 2020 car:
“Even though we have the strongest engine in the back we are by far the ‘draggiest’ car on the grid
"Compared to the Racing Point and the Mercedes we are a huge amount of speed down on them, purely because the car is so draggy.
“That is why you’ve seen us go really strong in Budapest the last two years because it is not a power sensitive circuit as such.
"On paper you think, ‘Well, we have a Mercedes, we should be flying in Spa and Monza’," he acknowledged.
"[But] it’s not the case, because unfortunately aerodynamically we have really poor efficiency in the car and that will actually make it really tough for us.”
The 2021 car lost some drag and gained downforce, and paid for it with an increased aero sensitivity. It was the only Williams car in that period which could be considered to perform well in a straight line.
It wasn't until the 2022 regulations were introduced that Williams finally lost the development baggage they had been carrying around since 2018 and built a high-efficiency low drag car again.
Dave Robson last year sounded wary of sacrificing their straight line advantage, remembering how it backfired in the past:
The challenge for Williams heading into 2024 and the FW46 is to keep adding downforce without losing the straightline efficiency that has been its trump card in recent years.
"I think it is still possible," says Robson. "We'll have to see obviously, that's the kind of decision that we've got to make day in and day out in the wind tunnel, when you get something that delivers more downforce or delivers the downforce in a way you hope will be more useful to the drivers, but it adds drag. It's difficult to know.
"Not least because we know from five or six years ago when you add the drag, and then you regret it, it's bloody difficult to get it back off again when it sort of becomes baked into the car. So I think it is possible.
Red Bull showed in 2022 and 2023 that with great aero efficiency you can be fastest in the corners while being among the fastest on the straights as well. It shows just how much potential there is to gain downforce without adding significantly more drag. Williams in its current state is not capable of such feats, but they should be able to make meaningful downforce gains without having to abandon their low drag concept. Finally fixing their handling and balance issues, which persevered across regulation changes, might be more important though.
Vowles said earlier this year that this had been their focus:
“We've added downforce, but actually the main thing we've been working on is the behaviour and characteristics of the car.
“I think there's quite an untapped potential in that, so we can move forward. How much is hard to say though.”
This perhaps provides some context to the Albon quotes about a "definitely different" car shared earlier. It suggests the differences in philosophy might be less in the aero concept and more in the general handling and behaviour.
