Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA
Special feature

F1 2016 review: Williams' season goes downhill

Motorsport.com's experts rate the Formula 1 teams' performances during the 2016 season. Today: Williams.

Felipe Massa, Williams FW38, Valtteri Bottas, Williams FW38

Felipe Massa, Williams FW38, Valtteri Bottas, Williams FW38

Williams

Tech highlights 

By Giorgio Piola and Matt Somerfield

The allure of the 2017 regulations and a smaller development budget were to be Williams' Achilles heel this season.

Development of the FW40 has taken precedent, with little additional development done on the 2016 challenger than was scheduled before the season got under way.

The inherent problem with stacking development onto next year's project early is, if you've not quite got this one right, you look to be stumbling around in search of performance.

At stages during 2016 this appeared to be the case, something that couldn't have become clearer when its mid-season updates didn't rectify Williams' inefficiencies but placed them further under a microscope.

Williams got on top of some of these issues, back-to-back testing its new front wing and floor to improve its set-up - but by this stage Force India had become a serious enough threat to resign the Grove-based team to an eventual fifth place.

Williams FW38 new floor, Hungarian GP
Williams FW38 new floor, Hungarian GP

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

Season ratings

Jon Noble - 6

A disappointing campaign for the Grove-based outfit where weaknesses in its structure compared to the big money manufacturers were exposed.

Although it started the year in decent shape, it did not get its updates right and issues were further hampered by limited production capacity that meant it couldn't throw bits as quickly on the cars as it hoped.

It has at least recognised where improvements need to be made, ahead of a campaign where an aggressive development programme that hits the targets will be essential.

Oleg Karpov – 6

Williams' resurgence was helped by the fact the team got Mercedes engines, but now the team is back into the midfield, where it probably belongs, given the difference in budgets compared to top teams. But the defeat to Force India is a really worrying sign.

Glenn Freeman – 5

Williams has undergone a gradual decline since its renaissance in 2014, which is a worrying sign ahead of a more aero-led formula from next year. Was its success earlier in this rules cycle purely down to its engine?

Given the 2014-15 seasons it had, Williams shouldn't have fallen behind Force India, but in the end it could barely keep the fight for fourth alive to the end of the year.

Kate Walker - 7

After two consecutive third-place finishes in the constructors' standings, Williams had a small slump in form, losing position to both Force India and Red Bull. It marked the first time since 2014's move to the new power unit formula that the Grove racers were not the highest-placed Mercedes customer team in the championship.

With no standout performances, Valtteri Bottas' Canada podium was the on-track highlight, while Felipe Massa's then-certain retirement -- and that pit lane walk of applause in Interlagos -- was the big story off-track. All eyes will be on Williams in 2017 to see what Lance Stroll - the best-prepared F1 debutant since Lewis Hamilton - will be able to do for the team.

Pablo Elizalde – 7

After a decent start to the season, the Grove team struggled to get its developments to improve the car's speed much and eventually ended up dropping to fifth in the standings, far from the third-place finishes of the past two years. In the end it had to concede that its direct rival Force India had done a better job.

Guillaume Navarro – 6

Claire Williams' team has been losing ground in the constructors' championship since 2014, when it finished third. Third also last year, Williams has lost two places and the performance gap to Mercedes has kept growing. The team lost out to rival Mercedes customer Force India and can't attract top drivers.

Erwin Jaeggi – 6

It was not an easy year for Williams on multiple fronts. After having scored points with both cars in the first five races and a strong third place for Valtteri Bottas in Canada, the season went downhill for the Grove-based team.

After finishing third in the constructors' championship in the previous two seasons, Williams found itself battling for fourth with Force India this year, ultimately losing that fight to finish fifth in the standings.

The FW38 seemed to be a difficult car to develop during the season and an early switch of focus to 2017 meant Bottas and his teammate Felipe Massa didn't have much to work with in the final stages.

Jacobo Vega - 6

Williams relies on the Mercedes engines and this was good when Renault, Ferrari and Honda were sleeping, but once those power units were improved, we saw the lack in the performance of the Grove chassis.

One good thing was Bottas' consistency. He's always where the car allows him, and I think he is one of the fastest guys in qualifying out there. Massa, meanwhile, was not in his best year.

Final score: 6.13/10

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Liberty planning F1 budget cap - report
Next article Mouton Q&A: "I'm not sure we'll see a woman at the top in F1"

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA