Williams Has Spent ‘More Than $3 Million’ on Damages

There couldn’t have been a lot of happy faces around Williams’ Grove HQ, as the team suffered a huge financial crisis in the build-up to the Las Vegas GP. These turned out to be taxing, not just for the drivers and the mechanics, but also for the accounts department, who had to dish out a huge sum — more than $3 million — in order to get the cars ready for Vegas.

Both Franco Colapinto and Alex Albon suffered a series of huge shunts, first in Mexico, and then in Brazil which was a rather chaotic race. In Sao Paulo, the damage sustained to Albon’s FW46 was so severe that he couldn’t take part in the race, whereas Colapinto binned his challenger in the Grand Prix, hours after the engineers took care of the mess he made in qualifying.

“The damage we had in Mexico and Brazil I had never experienced in the 25 years that I have been working in this sport,” Vowles said. “We lost five front wings, five floors, five rear wings, three gearboxes, two engines, two chassis. An incredible amount.”

While the Williams team principal didn’t reveal the exact amount, he gave a rough figure: “Less than ten million, but more than three.” Both cars were sent back to Williams’ UK base and returned in time for the season’s final stretch, adding to the costs. The total damage for the team this season reached $9.5 million.

Cameras will follow Vowles after qualifying on Saturday. Williams suffered yet another crash in Sin City late on Friday. It was Colapinto again, and while it’s too early to assess the extent of the damage, things don’t look good.

More misery for Williams

Williams did not have any upgrades planned for Vegas. Even if they had, it wouldn’t have been possible, considering how much money they had to spend just to get their cars up and running.

This has handicapped the British outfit in the last three races of the season, since its rivals in the lower end of the grid have all geared up for a strong finish to the campaign. Currently P9 in the standings with 17 points, it looks likely that’s where Williams will finish in 2024.

There will be more money spent on Colapinto’s car after the Las Vegas GP weekend, and the biggest challenge will be to get the car ready in time for the race, which takes place on Saturday.