2021 F1 Williams New Car Launch Review

2021 F1 Williams – Dorilton Capita, the new owners at Williams, have made a good decision to work more closely with Mercedes. Rather than just use the Mercedes power unit, Williams will now use the gearbox and ‘other transferable components allowable under the regulations’. This is the same route pioneered by Force India years ago. It makes sense for cash strapped teams to buy as much tried and tested kit from a bigger, more successful team to give them and strong and cost-effective base to build from.

The old Williams team were proud of their heritage as a great Formula 1 team that built their own cars. Everything except the engines. That requires a lot of staff and resources to do it well. If you don’t have the money, it doesn’t work. The new owners have seen sense and looked forward and not backwards, which is something of an English disease these days.

Integrated System

Williams now has an integrated system which is bound to work better than two separate designs trying to marry up. This alone, may mean that Williams will make a decent step forward in terms of exploiting the Mercedes power units performance, and frees up resources to develop the parts of the car Williams must design themselves. It isn’t rocket science but highlights how badly managed the team had become.

Former World Champion and one time William’s driver, Jenson Button, has signed a long-term contract as a ‘Senior Advisor’. He will advise both the team and their drivers, including Academy drivers. Simon Roberts, previously at McLaren, has taken up the role of Team Principle. Former Volkswagen motorsport chief, Jost Capito, has become the CEO.

There is a huge job ahead of the new owners to turn around the fortunes of the once great team. Williams have finished last in the constructor’s championship for the last three seasons. While there were some signs of a corner being turned last year, Williams failed to score a single point. Things can only get better.

Arrest The Decline

The plan is to ‘do a McLaren’ and arrest the decline of the team’s fortunes and return it to competitiveness. That will not be achievable in the short term. There is talk of two to four years, which sounds very ambitious. The new era of cost capping will make the task a little easier. But, so low had Williams fallen, that they are not even close to being able to hit the spending cap.

On the positive side, with the top teams having to shrink, there will be plenty of talent looking for new employment. So, Williams will be able to beef up their workforce with experienced personnel. There will be more managerial changes made and there will be a lack of continuity. However, the changes are necessary.

Car Launch

The new car is sporting a new paint job, but is, as the regulations require, largely a carry over from last years car. Williams say that they spent one development token during the 2020 season but have not used the second. Like all these struggling teams, there is little point spending scarce resources on this year’s car when next year is when the big regulation changes come into force.

There is a new front wing design, the sidepods have been refined and there are small changes to the rear wing. However, like all the cars this year, there nothing radically different. Like Red Bull, Williams has designated the Car the FW43B rather than the FW44, to reflect that this is basically a B spec of last years car.

2021 F1 Williams: Dawn of a new era?

‘The dawn of a new era’ say’s Capito. The new owners are putting their money where their mouth is, and without money, in F1 you are nothing. The reality is that 2021 is just the start of the transition from the old, outmoded Williams team model to a modern team looking to compete in the new era which starts next year. We shouldn’t expect any dramatic improvement. But, surely the team must see a chance to move above Haas, who have shown very little ambition and are bedding in two rookies drivers.

Williams is expected to have new parts ready for the Bahrain test. They will aim to develop the car, in a modest way, throughout the season. That shows a much greater level of ambition compared to Haas who have said that some aero changes excepted. They have not spent any development tokens and will not develop the car in season.

The car is lighter than last year which allows the team to distribute ballast to optimal areas and while that is not going to make a huge difference, it does help with performance. Reliability has also been an area where the team have concentrated on and all things considered, Williams can start the season with something of a spring in their step. It was only two years ago when they didn’t even have a car ready fir the first test, so there is progress being made.

2021 F1 Williams Constructors Championship Odds – 1501.00

2021 F1 Williams: Driver’s Championship Odds – George Russell 29.00, Nicholas Latifi 5001.00

Just a quick note on the rather absurd odds for George Russell. He stood in for Lewis Hamilton for one race last year when Hamilton was suffering with Covid19, and Russell has been linked with a seat at Mercedes in the future. For some reason, the bookies are trying to protect themselves from the possibility that Russell will find himself in the Mercedes this season. He will not and he may not even be there in 2022. Hamilton has a one-year deal for 2021 and there is no reason to think that he will not see out this season at Mercedes.

It would be great to think that those same bookmakers will offer seasonal match bets for say Russell vs. Leclerc. But of course, they will not. If they do….fill your boots.

-JamesPunt