Analysis: Williams and Racing Point make small steps ahead of big upgrades

F1 technology

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When the V6 hybrid turbo era began five years ago, Mercedes’ customer teams could rely on their power units to keep them competitive.

But as the field has closed up that is clearly no longer the case. Williams, who are enduring a terrible season, haven’t made Q2 yet; and Racing Point, suffering the consequences of their chassis being designed when they were in administration last year, have only got one of their cars out of Q1 so far.

Both teams have substantial upgrades planned for next week’s German Grand Prix. In the meantime they produced detailed refinements for their home race at Silverstone.

Progress has been slow at Williams so far this season but the development programme on the FW42 is stepping up mid-season. For Silverstone they brought an update to the sidepod inlet package, including the mirrors.

This is the third iteration of mirror on the car this year. The curved mirrors used in testing pushed the regulations too far and were replaced before the first race with a less contentious design.

The second version has now been replaced with the pod and flap design (1) adopted by the majority of teams. It still uses the two mountings for aerodynamic effect, but the mirror pod is now exposed, and a small flap is formed over it to further aid the downwash effect of the horizontal mounting

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To the side of this the vanes forming the sidepod inlet (2) have been re-shaped. They no longer meet to form a 90-degree bend but are instead separate the upper horizontal element now flicking up as it does on the Red Bull, and the vertical vane being correspondingly shortened.

On the lower horizontal vane, an additional vane now hangs below it. Showing the force of the airflow through the sidepod undercut, this vane requires a small stay to support it from the aerodynamic load.

Given the small scope of the Silverstone changes, they aren’t expected to bring the team back on to the tail of the midfield. But considerably larger updates are due on the Williams in Germany, with continuing optimism from the team that they are back on the right track.

Atypically, Racing Point made few changes to its car for Silverstone. The team usually brings a major update to the car at this point in the season. For Silverstone 2019 the main change was to the RP01’s front wing endplate.

Similar to Haas, Racing Point truncate the front wing endplate foot section short of its trailing edge. This was taken a stage further with a footplate cut back even further with a diagonal section removed on the new specification.

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Craig Scarborough
Craig Scarborough is RaceFans' technical contributor....

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4 comments on “Analysis: Williams and Racing Point make small steps ahead of big upgrades”

  1. So from 2021’s “very prescriptive rules” major aerodynamic upgrades a thing if the past?

  2. Josh (@canadianjosh)
    20th July 2019, 20:55

    I sure hope these two teams can get back to fighting the midfield because it would make it more interesting. The midfield fight is just as exciting nowadays to me as the 3 fighting for wins. I am truly gut wrenched that an old historic team like Williams is in such a struggle. Poor Frank must be somewhat ashamed I want to say but maybe it’s time for Claire to step back a bit as an owner/voice and appoint someone with fresh energy. I respect her a lot but sometimes change near the top can trickle down and create inspiration.

  3. Waste of Money by Williams developing this years car.
    They don’t even know what is wrong with it so I doubt they will learn anything to prepare them for next year except for how not to make an exact copy of this year’s car.

  4. R.Kubica, ” Sorry Claire, this car just doesn’t handle”
    C.Williams, ” Don’t worry Robert, I’ll have them move the mirrors for next week”.

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