Williams aims to consolidate their progress from last season with the FW45 – as the British outfit sets its targets for 2024. After spending their year consistently in the midfield, expectations will rise for James Vowles and his personnel.
Alex Albon and Williams were arguably the biggest revelation from last year. After a series of years dominated by financial and competitive shortcomings, the Grove-based team became regular points contenders.
Although AlphaTauri’s post-Singapore resurgence jeopardised their P7 position in the standings, Albon’s points haul proved sufficient. Purely from this perspective, there are many reasons to be positive about where the team is – especially compared to recent seasons.
However, it is important to assess the challenges that await them in 2024 critically. With the likes of McLaren and Aston Martin now at the front, the midfield group fighting for increasingly limited points.
Red Bull’s growing investment into their second team will further complicate things for the British outfit.
Although Williams is certainly in a better position than a team like Haas, the growing presence of manufacturers will only increase the level of competition.
Williams set realistic 2024 targets
This has contributed to the more reserved framing of the team’s 2024 targets. James Vowles, in his typical fashion, outlined why long-term projects take time to materialise:
“The change that needs to take place isn’t going to be one of 12 months, or 24 months or even 36 months,” he explained.
“Finding out where we are strong, where we are not strong, digging out the bits that aren’t strong – which for much of it, it’ll be infrastructure that is 20 years old – takes time.”
“If I look back at where we were 12 months ago, it’s an enormous change in such a short space of time.
“Change exists in terms of people. We had Pat [Fry, CTO] join, but we have a number of great names coming from other teams. They see the vision of where we are and where we are going towards and are wanting to be part of it.”
In the grand scheme of things, Williams would be satisfied with a repeat of last season’s success. Championships will not be attainable before 2026 at the very earliest, and even then, there will be plenty of work to do.
What will matter, however, is the team’s ability to prove their long-term ambitions are attainable.
Attracting more sponsors and, potentially, high-calibre drivers will also prove essential to maintain the British outfit’s current momentum.
Heading into this year, their progress will be eagerly observed – perhaps more than any season since 2016.
Author: Jaden Diaz-Ndisang
