Williams reveal Red Bull links with major overhaul

Ian Parkes
Friday 1 July 2022 10:45

Alex Albon has revealed Williams' "big update" that is solely on his car for this weekend's British Grand Prix has been based on Red Bull's aerodynamic design.

The former Red Bull driver has made a solid start to his season with the backmarker team, notably scoring points in Melbourne and Miami.

But the FW44 has been found wanting for pace and performance in F1's new aerodynamic era which has resulted in Williams being cast adrift at the foot of the constructors' championship.

For the race at Silverstone, Albon's car will be sporting a major upgrade package the Thai-British driver concedes has been modelled on Red Bull's championship-leading RB18.

The car is a complete overhaul as it contains a new front wing, front corner, sidepod inlet, floor fences, floor body, floor edge, diffuser, coke/engine cover, cooling louvres, rear suspension, rear corner, and even a halo.

Describing what will be unveiled, Albon said: "It's an interesting weekend for us. We haven't had major upgrades for a while.

"Of course, it should look visibly different and perform better than the previous package we had. Only time will tell.

"It will look more towards what the rest of the grid looks like. As you’ve seen, everyone’s been going towards a certain concept.

“Everyone started a bit different and it’s either the Ferrari concept or the Red Bull concept that seems to be adopted and our one looks more like the Red Bull car. But I wouldn’t call it a like-for-like.

"It's a lot of work. This is a big update. There aren’t many things on the car that have the same part as two weeks ago. So it’s pretty big."

The suggestion behind the scenes is the update could be worth as much as up to a second per lap.

Albon is sceptical but he knows what he would like to see from his revamped car, adding: "That would be a very good update. It’s hard to say what we’ll do.

"A second is very… if we took that, we would be very, very happy. But until we drive the car we won’t really know.

"In terms of lap time, I can't give you, but in terms of positioning, we want to be fighting more into Q2, more into the midfield, more into the points.

“A very good weekend for us right now, when we put it all together, is at the very bottom of the points, P11, P12.

“Realistically speaking, on paper, we are not quick enough, we know that, and there is a little bit of a gap even to the ninth-fastest car, especially with the Astons now making that step that they’ve done, it has left us behind a little bit.

“If we can get back into that group...you see it every weekend, there’s always a different car getting into Q3 in that midfield pack.

"Of course, if we can have opportunities where we can fight in those positions that’s really what we need. We need to be in front of the others in the constructors’ championship.”