Williams continues to search for answers, but the breakthrough the team has been hoping for remains elusive. At Silverstone, the Grove-based outfit showed some modest progress thanks to its new front wing and ongoing setup work, yet the improvements were not enough to significantly reduce the gap to the midfield. The main challenge remains unchanged: extracting competitive performance from a car that continues to occupy the back of the Formula 1 grid.
James Vowles: “Small steps, but the gap is still enormous”
Team principal James Vowles was honest in his assessment of Williams’ current situation. During the Sprint Race, the team experimented with several different setup configurations before carrying the most promising solutions into qualifying. While the data provided some encouragement, the overall picture remains far from satisfactory.
“We’ve made some small steps forward, but there’s still a huge amount of work to do. During the Sprint we tried different setups and we saw some encouraging progress. Once the wind picked up, the car became very difficult to drive and, even though we weren’t able to extract all of its potential, it’s clear that we still have a significant gap to the teams at the front of the midfield. We need to close that as quickly as possible.”
Carlos Sainz: “We’re still unable to find the performance”
Carlos Sainz echoed his team principal’s concerns, explaining that Williams had used much of the weekend to carry out comparison tests and collect valuable data on the new front wing. However, the expected performance gains never fully materialised.
“In the Sprint we got stuck behind a Haas and also struggled with energy deployment. Then, during qualifying, the wind became stronger and our car proved to be very sensitive to those conditions, making it much harder to drive and less competitive. We tested several different components and comparisons between the two cars in an effort to find more performance, but it didn’t work and we’re still struggling to unlock the pace.”
For Williams, Sunday’s race will serve primarily as another opportunity to gather data on the latest package, helping the team better understand the behaviour of the FW48 and guide future development.
Alex Albon already looking ahead to Baku
Alex Albon also admitted that Silverstone has effectively become a valuable testing ground for Williams. After starting the Sprint Race from the pit lane following overnight setup changes, the Thai driver explained that the team is trying to maximise its current package while waiting for a much larger upgrade package scheduled to arrive at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
“The other midfield teams have introduced major upgrades, while our next significant development package won’t arrive until Baku. Because of that, there’s only so much we can improve with what we have now. We’ve focused on experimenting and collecting data. We’re still struggling in the slow-speed corners, although the car felt better in the high-speed sections than it did in Austria and Barcelona.”
While Williams believes it has made incremental progress, Silverstone once again highlighted how much work remains before the team can consistently challenge the midfield. With a major upgrade package still several races away, extracting the maximum from the current car has become the team’s immediate priority.
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