Williams has spent the 2026 Formula 1 season so far eating humble pie. After all the talk of building the company's design, manufacturing and operational structure, it fell flat on its face with a car that wasn't competitive and, more importantly, massively overweight.
Through the season we have seen various developments being introduced, but the reality is that none of them seemed to improve the performance. The expectation is the long-awaited Azerbaijan upgrade will change that.
For Baku, Williams has introduced a few small aerodynamic developments, but more importantly a lighter package including the chassis. Williams has talked about a new and revolutionary way of building the chassis, but more than getting excited about that statement it worries me.
Williams is in a position where revolution is not what's needed, it just needs to do the basics well and efficiently and not keep trying to reinvent the wheel.
We know the two new chassis are significantly lighter, which is not something we can see other than on the stopwatch, so what has Williams brought to Baku aerodynamically?
This stay supporting the footplate of the bargeboard assembly has been removed. I suppose if you don't need it remove it to save weight, everything adds up.
This detail in front of the rear wheel contact patch has also been revised. The objective here is to connect it as best possible to the outward tyre squirt. The better you can do this, the better the sealing of the underfloor in this area.
Williams has also made some detail changes to the front and rear brake ducts, the cladding of the rear suspension and at the rear of the bodywork.
We will have to see what the weight reduction has brought Williams, as I’m not seeing much here aerodynamically that is going to close the gap to the midfield bunch, never mind the teams at the front.
Later on, I will compare its performance to Racing Bulls as that is a fair reference point and it is the area of the grid at the front of the midfield that Williams should be fighting in.
What else is new at the Azerbaijan GP?
Jon Noble
Audi has introduced a major F1 update package at the Azerbaijan GP that it hopes can push it towards the front of the chasing pack behind the top four teams.
Having finally got a bit of momentum behind its 2026 campaign with points-scoring finishes in five of the last six races, Audi has revealed a hefty revamp of its R26 ahead of this week's Baku race.
The changes are significant and include a new front wing, nose fairing, suspension changes, floor, bodywork and rear wing assembly.
As well as the all-new front wing and nose fairing, Audi has revised its front suspension covers to help feed components further down the car.
Audi is also introducing an all-new floor that should deliver more downforce, while tweaks have been made to the bodywork and halo fairing.
At the back of the car, tweaked rear suspension covers and a revised rear wing assembly are being introduced to all help supplement the other new components.
As well as the Audi and the Williams, a lot of attention has been focused on the big upgrade package at McLaren - but other teams have brought developments too.
Red Bull has made modifications to its floor and sidepods in a bid to add more downforce and enhance flow stability.
The sidepod has been revised with a new split line that runs to the floor. This works in conjunction with modifications to the floor geometry in this area of the car.
As well as the sidepod changes, the cooling louvres on the RB22 have been tweaked.
Red Bull has also worked on revising the mirror assembly geometry, and reprofiled a turning vane on the halo fairing.
Elsewhere, Racing Bulls has introduced a new front wing geometry to clean up the airflow that is fed to the rest of the car.
This works in conjunction with new front brake ducts and a revised profile on the front suspension legs.
As part of its Baku upgrades, Cadillac has also updated its brake cooling inlet to increase capacity off the back of the overheating problems that have marred a significant portion of its first F1 season.
from The Race https://ift.tt/GNof17Q
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