The Monaco Grand Prix was a disaster for the engineers of Red Bull and Mercedes. The top two teams had their intricate floor designs exposed when their cars were being extracted from the track by cranes. In the following race in Spain, it was Williams who was the victim of a similar incident. The only difference being the floor of the Williams was incredibly simple compared to the ones of the top two teams.
Williams soon came out with a video that had their team principal James Vowles explaining the simple floor pattern of Williams. Vowles was very self-critical and admitted that photos of the floor design weren’t necessary to see that they were struggling at the moment in terms of performance.
He said, “We are clearly lacking detail, relative to our competitors. But you wouldn’t have needed the underside of the floor to know that. You can see that from lap times.”
The floor of a Formula 1 car has a huge effect on its performance. Ever since ground effects were reintroduced in the 2022 season, the intricately detailed floor of an F1 car generates a lot of its downforce. The pictures of the floors of Red Bull and Mercedes, compared to that of Williams, show very clearly where the difference lies between a top team and a backmarker.
Top teams like Red Bull can extract the most downforce that they can by having highly detailed designs on the floor to maneuver the airflow according to their wish. That is not the case with a team like Williams.
Fans react to Vowles criticizing his own team
Fans had a mixed reaction towards the video that Williams made. While some of them mocked the team, others were having fun at the prospect of a team principal criticizing his own team.
Twitter user Leo pointed out that Williams must have been very embarrassed after their floor was exposed. That is why felt the need to clear things up.
Another user couldn’t stop laughing at James Vowles, explaining that one did not need to see the floor of the car to realize that Williams was slow.
Another user claimed that they felt bad for the team. They felt sorry that a team had to come out and explain their performance because fans were bullying them.
Not all the reactions from the fans were negative. Some of them tried to find the reason why this vast disparity exists across the grid in Formula 1. One user explained in detail how knowledge and resources have a major role to play in creating this difference between the top teams and backmarkers.
Fans Roast Williams compared to Mercedes & Red Bull brilliance
Fans did not miss the chance to roast the British team. Williams have undergone various changes over the last two years and yet have not been able to improve their performance. Twitter user Richard Parry compared the actual Williams Formula 1 car with a scale model that he had created. Turns out that both of them have the same amount of details.
Another fan reminded everyone that Alex Albon had managed to get the Williams car into Q3.
Twitter user Helena pointed out that seeing the incredibly simple floor of the Williams car should make everyone realize how much of an incredible job Alex Albon is doing.
Besides all the memes and mockery, it is very clear that a team like Williams has a long way to go before they can push themselves up the grid. The recent expose of the floors of the cars has only gone on to prove this.
