Williams’ performance at the Monaco Grand Prix hinted at what the team could achieve this season, despite ongoing weight challenges.
Williams has been working hard to reduce the weight of its car, shedding 14kg compared to last year. However, the team still needs to cut a similar amount to reach the minimum weight limit of 798kg. This extra weight costs them around 0.450 seconds on regular circuits like Imola, hiding some of their recent progress.
In Monaco, Alex Albon managed to secure the first points for Williams in the 2024 season, finishing ninth in both qualifying and the race. Albon reached Q2 ahead of cars from Red Bull and Alpine, and both Aston Martins, eventually qualifying within seven-tenths of Charles Leclerc’s pole in Q3. The tight nature of the Monaco circuit, which is less punishing on weight, showcased where Williams could finish once it sheds more weight from the FW46.
“On paper, this track is the least weight penalising track of the year,” Albon explained. “I think Monza is the most and Monaco is the least. It makes it not fair game, but a fairer game around here. Also, the DNA of the car has changed a lot from last year. And if you think about the areas we tried to focus on, it was low-speed, tight corners, which is exactly what this track is.”
When asked if the Monaco result reflected Williams’ true potential once the weight issues are resolved, Albon said, “It is, but weight is not that easy to lose. At least it isn’t for us. We’ve got some work to do to try to shake it off. We know our deltas every weekend when we compare where we are to where we could have been. We do need to fix some parts and try to not be overweight because I think we could have performances like this a little bit more often.”
Despite the optimism, Williams’ Head of Vehicle Performance, Dave Robson, warned that it would be tough to out-develop their rivals due to production delays and crash damage. “Where we are now, it’s quite difficult,” he admitted. “It’s a shame we weren’t able to bring the updates earlier, build on the pace, and the underlying qualities of the car at the start of the season. I think now we are probably fighting with Sauber most of the time. The car will get lighter as we go on and there are some mechanical and some aero updates that will come.
“But it’s a bit hard to see how we will out-develop those teams over the course of the next five or six months because they’ve already got a bit of a head start on us. We will bring upgrades and we’ll certainly try and get back towards the front of that back group. The aim is to try and keep on the coattails of Alpine and Haas.”
Williams showed a promising glimpse of their potential at Monaco, but the road ahead remains challenging as they work to shave off the remaining weight and out-develop their competitors.
Source: Motorsport
