Grove’s team believes it has progressed from the car that helped it finish seventh in the standings last year, but it has been caught up by the progress made by Haas and Visa Cash App RB, who lead the field in chasing behind the top five teams.
Williams’ situation was also not helped by the fact that her start to the season was disrupted by a series of major incidents which prevented her from focusing on developments. Another critical aspect of the 2024 season is that the team has made its FW46 a much more versatile and consistent car across all circuits. While this has helped remedy its weaknesses, it also means that it is no longer able to produce the kind of performances that it achieved last year on certain tracks and allowed it to play to the strengths of the car.
After finding himself behind a Haas, a VCARB and an Alpine on the starting grid in Miami, Alexander Albon admitted that the situation was not ideal for Williams.
“From one corner to the next, most of the time it’s better, but there are areas where the rear is a little more unstable than last year”did he declare. “That’s kind of the philosophy that we’ve adopted. But, honestly, I think it’s mostly the fact that VCARB and Haas have taken a big step forward. We’ve taken a step, but it’s relative. My weekend in China seemed very strong and we finished 13th. So that’s where we are.”
“It’s frustrating, but it’s not like we don’t know where the performance is. There is performance on the table and if we can unlock it, I think we can score points regularly. We are a little unbalanced by the lack of developments and the new developments have been late since the winter tests. We have not really made any decent progress since the start of the year.
Developments will arrive in the coming weeks
Ahead of the Miami weekend, team boss James Vowles revealed that developments were being prepared now that the team has sorted out the issue of spare parts and the third chassis.
“There are no other words to say it: there is potential, but we have not yet exploited it,” did he declare. “We already have a new front suspension and we will have a new floor in two weeks. So we are trying not to build ten, but rather three or four. When you lose three, that means you need to build three or four more to try to increase your stock. And that put us in a bit of trouble, to say the least.”
With Jonathan Noble and Mandy Curi
