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For the Williams Racing team the
2023 British Grand Prix would see them move up into seventh in the
championship standings after an eight place from Alex Albon, a most welcome
step forward by the team.
Looking back the 2023 season would see Williams secure a tenth place finish
in the opening race in Bahrain but the teams fortunes would would take a
slump with no points been secured for the next six races, despite a
promising run from Alex in the Australian GP but where he would crash.
It was not until the Canadian Grand Prix that the team would finally turn
their season around with a seventh placed finish from Alex. But what had
brought about this resurgence, with the answer primarily being the teams
introduction of various upgrades at this Canadian race.
The FW45 when introduced had a reputation of been a very fast car in a
straight line but lacked in downforce such that its cornering performances
were lacking. As such this would be the teams main focus in these upgrades,
that of adding downforce to the car but at the same time ensuring to not
lose their straight line advantage.
The 2023 FW45 despite seeing some changes at the beginning of the season
still seemed to carry over the design philosophy that gave the car its
straight line speed. But as the 2023 season progressed and the circuits
moved to those where downforce was more a requirement the lack of downforce
with the FW45 certainly hampered the teams performance. This lack of
downforce was something that the team knew had to be addressed and it was at
the Canadian race that the first attempts to resolve this issue were seen.
The major area that the team had worked on to improve their downforce was in
regard to the underside of the car and it was in this area that the team
would make gains in downforce. This would also include a repositioning of
the fences that are visible at the beginning of the channel that flows air
under the car as well as changing the profile of the diffuser at the rear of
the floor.
Also the team would change the cars sidepods aiming to again extract more
downforce by reprofiling them to make the drop down between front and rear
much smoother. The sidepod inlet design has also been altered to again
improve the flow of air. Such were the changes they were designed to improve
the flow of air to the aerodynamic areas at the rear of the car helping to
improve downforce, as well as gaining from the shape of the sidepods
themselves.
Added to these significant changes there are other smaller ones including to
the drivers mirrors and their supports. Again their design was to assist in
the flow of air towards the rear of the car. The rear suspension plus the
various winglets at the rear of the car were also repositioned to improve
the flow of air.
In some areas of the car Williams has continued their design philosophies
most likely driven by budget restrictions. One particular area is that of
the cars rear beam wing. This element is another one that generates
downforce on the car and Williams changes this element, primarily though a
variation of its positioning for each race. This allows the team to come up
with track specific solutions without going down the path of building
completely different units.
For the British race the team would come with further upgrades including a
new front wing as well as changes to the rear of the car, both of which
continued to improve the downforce of the car as well as as improving the
flow of air across the car.
An other factor assisting the Williams team was the added time, that they
had received as a result of their low finishing position in the 2022
championship, in regard to their use of their wind tunnel and CFD time. But
this is an area where Williams is playing catch up with other teams in
respect of Williams aiming to improve their production and design
facilities.
The team has been first to acknowledge that the upgraded FW45 might still be
track limited, such as in the upcoming Hungarian GP, or still gain from
tracks like Monza where the FW45's straight line speed can be put to good
use. But they can still come away with the satisfaction of seeing Alex's
eighth-place finish at Silverstone in a car that was fighting amongst some
surprising teams even passing a Ferrari, all showing that the upgrades are
producing the desire results.
There will come a point where the team will start to focus on their 2024 car
but so far they have the satisfaction of knowing that they have made
positive steps forward with their FW45 that are having a significant impact
on their 2023 season. |
