Williams showed great improvements in the last few seasons, especially after going from P10 in 2022 to P7 in 2023. That is thanks to the great work made by the team, and also through Alexander Albon’s incredible performances. But will the Wantage-based outfit be able to take it to the next level in 2024?
In 2022, Williams totalized just 8 points in the whole season, 4 scored by Albon and 2 by Nicholas Latifi. It was another disappointing year for the historical British team, which has been struggling to develop competitive cars for quite some time.
Revenge time
However, racing flows in Williams’s veins no matter the struggles, and they were ready for a little revenge in 2023. Having finished last in 2022, the British team could use the wind tunnel the most, and they tried to exploit it as best as they could. Not only that, they also parted ways with Latifi, who didn’t meet the expectations during the season, and signed Logan Sargeant.
The 2023 season was way better than the previous one, with Williams scoring 28 points (+20 compared to 2022) and clinching P7 in the standings (+3 compared to 2022).
Speaking of drivers’ performance, Albon had his best season in terms of delivering results race in and race out. He was consistent and a lot of the time he outscored faster cars, bringing home vital points for the team. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the same for Sargeant, who struggled throughout the whole year and only scored 1 point – after Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were disqualified from the race in Austin -.
The American driver was never able to match Albon’s pace, and his lack of performance hurt Williams’s constructors’ race, even though it is fair to say that Alpine (P6) was probably unreachable as the French outfit scored 120 points.
The next big surprise?
Overall, Williams showed an interesting step forward and the car was better both during qualifying and the race. The real question is, will it be able to upset the likes of Alpine or Aston Martin and enter the battle for the top 5 in the constructors’ championship?
Well, it would surely mean that the Wantage-based outfit did an outstanding job over the winter break. The points difference between the teams that finished above them is huge, and all those outfits scored podiums in 2023. Williams would have to score points every weekend with both cars to achieve such a result, and considering Sargeant’s struggles it wouldn’t be an easy task, but his one-year experience could help him perform better in 2024.
Surely, just repeating the decent results achieved in 2023 would already be a great outcome, but Williams was born to win, and that’s what the team will try to do in the future. In Formula 1 you never know what will happen, but a realistic prediction might see the British team fight for the lead in the midfield and maybe achieve the top 5 in some crazy, unpredictable races.
That doesn’t seem a crazy projection, considering that Williams has more wind tunnel hours to use compared to the teams that finished above them in 2023. The British outfit proved to be able to make the most out of it and will surely try to find more areas to improve and develop to catch Alpine and Aston Martin. Who knows, maybe the British outfit will even manage to repeat what McLaren was able to accomplish.