Williams’ 2024 season perfectly encapsulated the old adage in F1 that fortunes don’t take too long to change. After a strong 2023 campaign where the team finished seventh in the standings, last season saw the Grove-based team struggle en route to a disappointing ninth-place finish. Underlining their pace deficit was a flurry of costly crashes as well that catapulted them to the top of the damages list.
Their lead driver, Alex Albon found himself at the sharp end of that unfortunate list, with an estimated total of $4.6 million worth of repair bills to his name as per News GP. In hindsight, however, the British-Thai driver has partly blamed his team for accruing such a staggering monetary deficit.
“If you look, part of the problem is with the weight. We had certain parts that were made of metal instead of carbon. That caused other parts of the car to break down. Because of this, we actually kept hurting ourselves,” he told Motorsport.com in an exclusive interview.
The Formula 1 Destructors Championship pic.twitter.com/6FQXJL4iuL
— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) December 29, 2024
Albon did not absolve himself from the errors that led to some of the crashes but argued that the very fact that some parts were forged in metal meant unwarranted stress on the frame of the car — thus leading to failures and possible instances of breakdown.
The #23 driver suffered one of his biggest crashes in Sao Paulo during qualifying when he felt an issue with the car caused him to lock up his rear tires and crash out at the first corner of Interlagos. Besides Albon, even his teammates Logan Sargeant and Franco Colpinto also contributed heavily towards the damages Williams sustained in 2024.
Franco Colapinto failed to solve Williams’ cost-cap issues
There were many instances throughout last season that showcased just how badly Williams were hit owing to their drivers’ errors. At the Australian GP, the team could only field one car due to Albon’s crash in FP1 destroying the #23 chassis. This meant his then-teammate, Sargeant had to give up his own car for the rest of the weekend.
Even at the Sao Paulo GP when Albon’s qualifying crash meant that the British-Thai driver’s car could not be repaired in time for the Grand Prix. In the race, his teammate, Colapinto crashed his FW46 as well rounding off a costly and disappointing trip to Brazil.
Team principal, James Vowles had made a tactical decision to sack Sargeant after the Dutch GP and induct Colapinto into their ranks to stop these repair bills from mounting up. But in reality, the Argentine followed suit with his predecessor.
Despite some strong results, which led to points finishes as well for the team, Colapinto has had his fair share of crashes. In only nine races strapped behind the wheel of the FW46, the 21-year-old had racked up a repair bill of around $4.3 million.
In the cost cap era, these unwarranted costs could really pile the pressure on a small team such as Williams who will be forced to divert funds into repairing their current car rather than use that money to develop their all-important 2026-spec challenger.
