2025 is shaping up to be a transitional year for Williams, as much attention is already focused on the new regulatory cycle starting in 2026. However, this does not mean that the upcoming season, beginning in March, lacks goals or the ambition to grow, as a better position in the standings also translates into higher prize money.
The FW46, the car that defined Williams’ 2024 season, experienced highs and lows due to fundamental design limitations that had a cascading effect. Since 2019, Grove’s cars have consistently been overweight, prompting a focus on identifying areas where the most significant gains could be achieved through weight reduction.
This winter, the team worked intensively on the chassis, which until 2023 was significantly above the FIA-imposed minimum weight threshold. This approach was aimed not only at 2024 but also at ensuring the 2025 base would not be too compromised, allowing focus on other key areas of the car to improve handling.
Extensive efforts to improve handling
The first part of the recently concluded championship was severely hampered by this aspect, overshadowing other efforts to enhance the car’s driveability—one of the major objectives for 2024. The 2023 car, while having strengths like performance on straights and high-speed sections, was challenging to drive, particularly for rookie Logan Sargeant.
However, starting with a mass significantly above the FIA minimum weight, which engineers estimated as a four-tenths disadvantage, created difficulties and forced tough decisions on resource allocation. At tracks like Monaco, where a strong ninth place was achieved, it became evident that initial weight reduction measures had improved the FW46 in several areas, especially on tracks where weight was less critical.
The problem was that while Williams worked to achieve what should have been the 2024 starting point, other teams with more solid foundations continued their development programs, leaving the Grove team a step behind. Unsurprisingly, the FW46 was one of the last cars to align with the season’s trends, only doing so with updates introduced at the start of the second half of the championship.
FW46: less extreme than its predecessor
Despite the engineers’ attempts to modify its characteristics, many aspects of the 2024 car’s DNA remained similar to its predecessor. Unsurprisingly, the best performances came at tracks like Silverstone and Monza, where the FW45 had impressed the previous year, benefiting from medium-high-speed sections.
However, these were not the only instances where the FW46 performed well. In the Netherlands, before Alex Albon’s disqualification for a floor regulation infringement, the Anglo-Thai driver secured eighth on the grid. Williams had already shown in 2023 an affinity for medium and high-speed corners with uneven surfaces, where other teams had to raise their cars to avoid excessive bottoming.
Part of the strong performance in the Netherlands was due to a significant upgrade package. Interestingly, this pattern was also seen in other weekends, such as Austin. Early in the weekend, when teams took fewer risks, the FW46 performed well on COTA’s bumpy surface, showing solid medium- and high-speed performance but struggling in slower sections.
However, once rivals adjusted their setups and took more risks, they managed to close the gap, especially in qualifying. In the race, thanks to favorable circumstances and effective strategy, Franco Colapinto recovered to secure a crucial point.
Missed opportunities
Despite the improbability of climbing the standings, there were many instances where Williams failed to maximize results. Vehicle limitations, strategic choices, reliability issues (with overheating problems recurring multiple times), and incidents all played a role. Frequent damage hampered development early in the season and limited spare parts later, forcing Colapinto to revert to older, heavier specifications.
Missed opportunities included races in Mexico and Brazil, where incidents again had a significant impact. São Paulo, like Zandvoort and Austin, featured bumpy surfaces, where the FW46 initially showed potential.
In the sprint race, no points were scored due to the shortened classification (only the top eight earn points). In a standard 300 km race, the FW46 could have finished in the top 10. Qualifying also showcased its capabilities in wet conditions, leveraging characteristics that allowed quick tire warm-up.
At times, this trait negatively impacted races. The 2024 car generally performed better in cool conditions that limited tire wear. However, in extreme temperatures, as seen in Las Vegas, the FW46 fell out of its ideal operating window, and excessive tire wear became a significant limitation.
Adding to these challenges was the lack of pure aerodynamic downforce, evident in Qatar and Spain or when other teams could adopt more aggressive setups. This helps explain why, despite strides toward versatility, the results did not match 2023. The FW45’s extreme strengths translated into standout performances on specific tracks, whereas the FW46 lacked such peaks.
The attempt to make the FW46 more versatile marked the start of a journey, but delays early in the season, compromises to reduce weight, and postponed substantial updates left the Grove car consistently a step behind its rivals.
For 2025, the goal is clear: make significant progress in all these areas. While the team’s focus is on 2026, starting strongly in 2025 will be critical to avoid falling behind as the championship progresses. With the addition of an experienced and reliable driver like Carlos Sainz, there is hope of capitalizing on opportunities missed in 2024.
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