Williams explained that despite results proving otherwise, its 2024 Formula 1 challenger performed better than its predecessor.
Finishing ninth in the 2024 Constructor’s standings, Williams amassed a total of 17 points across 24 races this year.
Compared to its seventh-place finish last year with 28 points, the British team suffered far beyond expectations.
With 17 incidents this season, Williams has racked up an estimated £11,471,990 in damages that certainly hindered its car development.
In what seemed like a step back for the team, Williams is confident that the FW46 was a big step up from its predecessor.
Williams’ Head of Vehicle Performance Dave Robson told select media including Motorsport Week: “It’s been a bit mixed.
“Fundamentally the car is better but we haven’t seen that bear out in terms of the final results.
“There’s a few reasons for that, one is I guess we did go a little bit backwards in order to go forwards in how we develop the car.”
F1 Season of ‘attrition’ hurt Williams’ progress
Robson explained that Williams started the season on the wrong foot, already overweight heading into the season opener in Bahrain.
While the team intended to improve the car’s balance over the winter, the time taken to develop a shift in concept resulted in a heavier car in Bahrain.
What shortly followed was Alex Albon’s infamous Friday practice crash in Melbourne, and Williams began digging themselves into a soon-to-be very deep hole.
The damage was so severe that Albon was given Logan Sargeant’s car to drive for the remainder of the weekend as the team had only one working chassis.
Robson continued: “The attrition from Melbourne onwards has held us back a bit in terms of bringing new parts to the car, and the fact we started with the programme a bit delayed last year, the car was overweight, some parts got rushed through.
“That’s set us back both in terms of lap time and then development, effort and time in taking the weight off rather than bringing the big upgrades.
“That has definitely held us back in terms of the results, which is a bit frustrating, but I’m confident the car is better than the sort of headline race results would have you believe at the moment.”
Between the sheer number of incidents on track to strict budget limitations, Williams has endured a rough battle with the FW46.
The Grove-based outfit ended the 2024 F1 campaign topping the table for most damages over the season.
Moreover, Williams failed to score a single point in the last five races and suffered at least one retirement in each of those Grands Prix.
READ MORE – How Williams crashes impacted its 2025 F1 development plans
