Williams changes bargeboards: 'Hopefully it will improve the car'
F1 News
- GPblog.com
The Williams car has struggled immensely with the wind this season, as many people had predicted ahead of the season opener in Bahrain. This is reflected in the Constructors' Championship, where the British team is behind Haas F1 and at the moment, sitting at the bottom of the table. The upgrades and modifications to the bargeboards have been applied a while ago, but could not be tested properly in Baku, as there was not enough wind for that.
Dave Robson, head of vehicle performance at Williams, said in conversation with Autosports.com that the upcoming triple header will give more information about the changes. In Baku this was not possible because of the lack of wind. "I think the shelter does help, because you get more of a Monaco-like tunnelling of the air rather than the big crosswind gusts you get at Silverstone, for example. I think we will find out more at Paul Ricard, where it will probably be windy." Robson is so curious because Williams has thus made some adjustments.
"There are a number of changes to George Russell's car around the bargeboard, which are designed to hopefully improve that side of the car," continued the Brit. "But to be honest, we didn't really get to evaluate that Friday in Baku how well it worked in that respect. So I think the big test will be the next three or four races."
Robson happy with current power units
George Russell had to go back to a previous power unit during FP3 in Baku as problems were discovered. Russell would eventually finish Q2 with this old power unit. Robson is happy with the current power units and also knows that there were some more problems with them early on.
"You get to do so little with the power units, it's essentially just a new version of the same thing, more or less. The degradation of these power units these days is impressively small. It's not like the old days when there was obvious degradation." Regardless, Robson, and Williams in general, will be hoping that during the triple header in France and Austria the modifications can be tested properly.