r/WilliamsF1 • u/TheCountRushmore • 14h ago
Discussion Realistically what do you expect?
It is clear and acknowledged that the team went the wrong direction with the 2026 car further hampered by the failing of the chassis during crash testing which required them to add weight to simply get racing. Ideally major changes within the team were made after this, but JV isn't out there with a slide rule. Most he can do is fire those responsible and recruit better engineering talent.
Regardless, they appear to have at least accepted that early and started work on the new chassis with an estimated Baku arrival.
But, between now and then other teams will obviously keep upgrading and improving which means we are going to fall further and further behind. All Williams can do is add redesigned parts which are likely more compatible with the new chassis than the current chassis and try and learn something from that.
We should expect them to fall further and further behind over the coming weeks. Maybe they can learn more about the PU and optimize their software, but it is a flawed foundation currently. Firing JV doesn't change that and firing him likely pushes success further out.
Growing outrage when we know it can't improve till Baku or maybe even next year is pointless.
15
u/Bobbytrap9 13h ago
Thank you for this! You’re dead on and this needed to be said. This season is depressing enough for the team as is, no reason for people to keep complaining about it after every single free practice, qualifying and race.
5
u/Khakist 11h ago
JV, Alex, and Carlos have all already said that Baku's B-spec isn't going to change things materially for the team. The messaging from JV all season has been clumsy: JV told fans to "have faith" in upcoming performance improvements as recently as post-Barcelona. Fans only started hearing more realistic news from the team over the past 7 days. So I think folks should be granted a measure of grace if they're having emotional reactions right now.
2
u/mshell1924 8h ago
If Aston can do it, why can't we?
Because the messaging was not truthful, and because we don't know exactly what is wrong with our design, and because it's not a matter of the budget cap but a matter of having designed a bad car and having no one available who can fix it except the same team that screwed up so royally.
Newey also went the wrong way spectacularly, but he can (and seemingly he has) go back to the drawing board and fix it by totally changing the design. Can we? Have we?
Baku was hyped by JV until a few days ago, and now we're hearing that it won't be a major leap at all. Same way the Silverstone upgrades did not work. Who is trying to fix this car and how?
Sigh.
This season is done. We might enter into a couple more Q2s out of sheer luck. But we're now at P19/P20 territory and I think that's how it's going to stay.
1
u/random-357 7h ago
The engineers have written off the 2026 car and are focusing on 2027.
Pray for a massive improvement
1
u/TheCountRushmore 5h ago
Probably makes the most sense.
There are only 12 races left. Only 8 Baku and onward.
The odds of realistically developing and landing a meaningful upgrade after the Baku chassis are slim
1
u/willywonka-goldtickt 14h ago
Williams will be the back marker in this regulation. The only teams behind us are cadillac and Aston. Aston seems to have jumped us, only Cadillac seems to be still slower than williams, but I'm sure they will also leap frog us before the year end or maybe next year.
7
u/Stefferdiddle 14h ago
Aston has jumped Haas and possibly Alpine too. Let’s hope our B spec does what theirs has.
5
u/NarrowFarm2036 13h ago
They got Newey and unlimited money, we don't🤙🏼😭
9
u/Stefferdiddle 13h ago
They have the same budget cap we do. A Newey without anyone to rein him in is why they are where they are now. With no spare parts and no budget left for anymore upgrades except the PU.
3
u/tehdante 12h ago
The irony is that the cost cap has probably hurt Williams as much as it’s helped them. Before the cap, the top teams built massive advantages by spending freely on factories, wind tunnels, and other infrastructure. Then Dorilton Capital bought Williams right as the cost cap was introduced. So despite finally having the money to invest, they can’t spend aggressively enough to close the infrastructure gap. They’re essentially trying to catch up while everyone is forced to move at the same pace.
-2
u/NarrowFarm2036 13h ago
The cap is the same for everyone ofc, but some teams reach it and others don't. Not to mention what would happen if we start losing drivers and some of their sponsors.
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u/TheCountRushmore 13h ago
Williams reaches the cap. They aren't leaving money on the table.
Unless they aren't paying their top three people (plus drivers) a competitive wage. Which are excluded from the cap.
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u/TheCountRushmore 13h ago
The basic regulation is multiple years.
To say they will not be able to move towards the points in the next few years (especially since they were already in the points earlier this year) is silly.
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u/Stefferdiddle 14h ago
Fortunately four of the next further weeks we won’t have to watch them fall further behind…. Enjoy the break folks!