Williams FW43 Speculation Thread

[Just_a_fan]

None of which has anything to do with the car. Take it to the team thread.

One can't help thinking that if this was a Ferrari thread, this stuff would have been jumped on by a mod already.

[Lotus102]

None of which has anything to do with the car. Take it to the team thread.

One can't help thinking that if this was a Ferrari thread, this stuff would have been jumped on by a mod already.

Agreed

[Lotus102]

Pic of FW43 tub here

https://twitter.com/NicholasLatifi/stat ... 69958?s=20

[Lotus102]

After finding as many pics as I can, I can't actually see any difference whatsoever between the FW42 and the pic of Latifi's seat fitting, so if the mock-up/tub here does represent the FW43, then it would appear that the tub will be very similar if not identical to the 2018 model. Would seem to confirm that the concept of the FW43 is basically the same as the 42 but better executed/designed with better correlation.

[jjn9128]

Tubs are rarely dramatically different, they try to minimize the cross section without creating any unpleasant flow features. They already had the lower side impact spars (SIS) last year. They might even keep the same tub if the SIS and suspension points are the same.

[Tattoo-]

In the middle of the season Dave Robson said, that the FW42 will form the base for the FW43...

Williams’ Senior Race Engineer Dave Robson says the team’s 2020 car is already under development and adds its design will be an evolution of the struggling FW42.

Despite the worst start to a Formula 1 season in the team’s history, Robson believes the design of their 2019 car is a good foundation to build on.

“I think so. It’s nice when the rules are stable over a year or two, and you can learn for the future, which we’ve done with a few things.

“I’m not sure that there’s anything massively, fundamentally wrong. I think we’re just behind the curve in the development line.

“We know we took a different approach. Last year we felt we’d reached the limit of the concept of that car, and so in order to go further forwards we consciously came back a bit, and it’s taken longer than we hoped to get back up and beyond where we were.”

Furthermore, Robson confirms that the development of the 2020 car is already underway and uses the FW42 as a basis.

“There are always new things to learn and to try and do research on for next year. The design of next year’s car is already well under way, so the main architecture is already being laid out.

“In many ways it will be an evolution of this car as we take advantage of the rules being fairly stable. Part of our job for the rest of this year is to make sure we learn everything we can to help out for next year.”

[PhillipM]

This is secondhand info so take it with a pinch of salt, but I was chatting to some friends at Autosport and it was mentioned that the factory have been saying they've found 1.5s/lap over last years car to potential sponsors/advertising agencies (one of which they're part of). Presumably to try to show they're going to be a better investment this year.

But, I was just looking back through the numbers yesterday and I don't think it's going to be enough, is it? Even if everyone elses cars gained almost nothing over the winter it would barely be enough of a gain to get them even in the fight at the back - and usually most teams find ~0.5-1s a lap over winter relative to the previous years car.
Have they just written off this year again to concentrate on next years rule changes? That's bitten them so many times already I'm just sorta amazed they'd fall into the same trap. Anyone else heard anything similar?

[maunde]

Not sure any of this matters. Williams needs a new culture, new people, and new money...in that order. Not sure they have any of that.

...as for Latifi, I expect him to halve the distance Kub was to GR.

Unfortunately, William's best hope is that Alfa and Hass continue to worsen.

The culture/organisation structure of an engineering group/team will affect the results of said team for at least the next few years. What I mean to say is that the poor team management that was endemic in 2018/2017 is still being felt today.

Because the Williams team structure was altered throughout 2019, the effects of that change will start to manifest itself in 2020 and 2021. If this change was right, the results will show themselves in those seasons.

[Lotus102]

I was just looking back through the numbers yesterday and I don't think it's going to be enough, is it? Even if everyone elses cars gained almost nothing over the winter it would barely be enough of a gain to get them even in the fight at the back - and usually most teams find ~0.5-1s a lap over winter relative to the previous years car.
Have they just written off this year again to concentrate on next years rule changes? That's bitten them so many times already I'm just sorta amazed they'd fall into the same trap. Anyone else heard anything similar?

It depends, I suppose. Given stable regulations, the gains made will be smaller with each new season, and the closer you get to the front. And that’s going to be purely aero, it won’t take account of any time gained from PU improvements. The word seems to be that Merc has made some significant gains in that department over the winter, so the total time gain by Williams may be more - although it will of course be the same relative to other Merc teams.

1.5s seems conservative to me though. I was under the impression that last season, most teams found back the two seconds lost to the simplified front wing, and another second or so on top of that, while Williams only clawed back the 2s from the front wing. We’ll see... In-season development will also be crucial. I fully expect Williams to start the season last again, but if they’re only a couple of tenths off the back, as opposed to a couple of seconds, then they have a chance of leapfrogging one or two teams through development. Their in-season development was better than Haas and Alfa in 2019, they just started too far back for it to make a difference.

[PlatinumZealot]

If it's 1.5 seconds in race pace that's pretty decent.

[rgava]

and usually most teams find ~0.5-1s a lap over winter relative to the previous years car.

I think this is a bit optimistic from your side.

The statistical information from last year (2018-2019) shows a year on year average improvement of the field of 0,362 seconds on qualy laptimes.

Only 3 teams improved in that 0,5-1s range (McLaren, Toro Rosso and Alfa Romeo), and Renault was close, with 0,467s

Top teams improved a lot less:
Red Bull 0,316s
Ferrari 0,214s and
Mercedes only 0,173s

[PhillipM]

Is that accounting for the change in tyres for 2019 as well? And the simplified front wings and changed rears.... it's not that simple.

You go back another year and even with the introduction of the halo and loss of t wings and fins, most teams made 0.5s to 1s improvement over the previous year, some far more.

Going by the recent interview where one of the drivers said "if nobody else improves we'll be in the fight" it sounds like they know they exact same thing - they've got that 1.5s of pace which would put them in contention last year - but everyone will have moved on and it's still not enough.

[Lotus102]

Indeed. It's hard to compare because there are invariably changes from one season to the next that make it unfair (introduction of Halo, different tyre specs, tweaked aero regs etc). And what are you comparing? Melbourne to Melbourne? Abu Dhabi to Melbourne? Mid-season to mid-season? (Genuine question - when people produce these numbers, what are they comparing? A season-long average?)

Even if you do know what your comparison is, it's hard to work out all the variables. I recall it being said that the 2019 front wing made the car two seconds slower than 2018 - but that was on the basis of a first iteration of a basic 2019 spec wing plugged into the simulator on the 2018 car without any other changes, so my supposition is that any engineer/aerodynamicist worth their salt will be able to pull back a big chunk of that without much effort.

I recall that at some 2019 races, Williams were slightly slower than in 2018, when they were in turn slightly slower than in 2017, so if they are indeed faster this year, it will at least be progress...

[ScrewCaptain27]

From Williams’ official Instagram page.

[tomazy]