After a disastrous weekend in Brazil, marked by the almost complete destruction of its two cars, speculation has swirled that Williams could be forced to enter just one car in the next Grand Prix. However, the British team put these rumors to rest by releasing a video explaining how they managed to rebuild the two cars.
With five accidents occurring in the space of two weekends, Williams Racing found itself facing an immense challenge in preparing its cars for the final series of three races.
Upon their arrival at Grove headquarters, a few days after the São Paulo Grand Prix, the technical teams immediately mobilized. A complete rebuild of the cars was completed in a tight time frame to make them operational before the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
In a behind-the-scenes video, Chief Engineer Ben Howard looks back on this intense week at the team's facilities, providing an exclusive insight into the efforts to overcome this obstacle.
“It’s Thursday, the week before the next event”, Ben explains from the repair rooms. “Everything was back to normal Thursday evening and Friday morning.”
“We had a huge weekend and then starting yesterday we started getting new parts and repaired parts.”
Read also: Williams denies possible impasse at Las Vegas Grand Prix
“We got the composite chassis back last night, freshly painted with new parts.”
“The composites guys worked all night to prepare the chassis, and now the car is ready.”
Earlier this week, Ben expressed that in his 15 years with the team, he had never experienced such a difficult weekend. However, he stressed how deeply impressed and proud he was by the way the team overcame the ordeal.
“It’s crazy. After last week, it was a little daunting with all the parts and all the damaged things and everything else, and was it realistic to prepare everything?”
“I have to say it’s incredible. The parts arrived quickly, we have spares and everyone worked and pushed the limits.”
“I think we will arrive in Vegas in better shape than the last event, so everyone deserves to be congratulated.”
“No one has backed down, we've been very busy, but we look good and we're in good condition,” concluded Ben, chief mechanic of the Williams team.
Read also: Carlos Sainz will be at the wheel of the Williams from post-season testing
