Season Results: Williams Racing – all the news from Formula 1 2022

The first season after the change of ownership brought Williams eighth place in the Constructors’ Championship by chance, but in 2022 the team fell back to the usual last stripe.

In Formula 1, the first and last places are often the most stable – if the team dominates, then for a long time, and if it is inferior in all respects, then it will be last for a long time. But in 2022, along with the regulations, both the Constructors’ Cup winner and the clear outsider changed.

George Russell moved to Mercedes, Alex Albon was brought in to replace him at Williams, who performed well in Toro Rosso and Red Bull, but did not fit Helmut Marko and missed last season.

Nicholas Latifi stayed with the team for the third, final season under the contract – his family helped with the financing. Over the winter, Williams boss Jost Capito said the Canadian would have a big chance to prove himself after Russell’s departure, but everyone understood that Latifi’s career was almost complete. He played his role, allowing the team to survive in a difficult economic situation, it was time for everyone to take the next step.

In addition, Logan Sargent became a member of the youth program. The team left the chief engineer Adam Carter.

If in 2021 Williams was lucky in Hungary and Spa, where the team earned 20 points out of 23 for the season, and in 2022 there were no such successes, and the car did not become more competitive. Williams technical director Francois-Xavier Demaison made no secret of the fact that the team paid insufficient attention to the FW44.

Williams aimed to return the team to senior positions and worked for a longer term, dividing the budget between several projects.
Highly hampered with build-up, unstable balance and tire degradation. When it was possible to put the tires in working mode, the car let them fight with rivals in the middle group, but if not, the Williams drivers were left behind. Much depended on the performance conditions of a particular circuit – where minimal resistance was needed, the FW44 looked better.

Like many, there were problems with the car’s excess weight, which proved unsolvable given the limited budget during the season. Williams simply refused to paint large parts for some time – there were no sponsors anyway and without paint the car weighed less. It didn’t change anything, so the paint quickly reappeared.

Throughout the season, the car has hardly been updated. The first novelties appeared in the summer – in Silverstone and Austria they were tested on Alex Albon’s car, and in France Nicholas Latifi also received new items. Opponents did not stand still either, so the balance of power has not changed.

Williams drivers evaluate the past season in different ways. If Albon called him the best of his career so far – in many races he looked really great, then Latifi called the season the worst of the three he spent at Williams. He complained about the lack of confidence in the car, problems with the brakes – they really were – and in most races he finished last.

But when Albon suddenly needed a replacement after a summer break – over the weekend in Monza he was in hospital with appendicitis and the team invited reserve driver Nick de Vries – he immediately got ahead of Nicholas and proved that it was not just in the car. The former McLaren youth program and Formula E champion made his F1 debut aged 27, scoring two points in ninth in his first race.

Nicholas earned points only once – for ninth place in the rain on Suzuka, but already there he admitted that they would not affect his contract in any way. The Canadian from a wealthy family failed to make serious progress in three years, it soon became known that the contract would not be renewed – and this decision did not surprise anyone.

Alex Albon had a good season and lived up to expectations, but he couldn’t go faster than the car allowed. The British-licensed Thai rider finished in the top ten three times and earned four points, bringing the team total to eight points. Williams’ closest rival, ninth-placed AlphaTauri, has 35 points at the end of the season. And there is an abyss between them.

In 2023 Albon’s teammate will be the young and promising Logan Sargent, the first American Formula 1 driver since Alexander Rossi at Manor Marussia in 2015. Sargent finished the Formula 2 season in a modest fourth place, more than a hundred points behind the winner, but this result did earn him the necessary points for the super license.

Williams recognizes that they are taking risks in signing a debutant, but they want to take the next step, train their own racer who can be trusted in the future. In addition, the appearance of an American pilot will attract American sponsors, given the three American stages on next season’s calendar. The interest is mutual and even mutually beneficial.

Josh Capito, team leader: “It won’t get any better next year, that’s for sure. From the outside it seems that we have taken a step back, judging by the position in the championship. But I look at it differently: the points with which we achieved 8th place last year, we mainly earned in Spa, where there was actually no race.

This year we changed a lot, implemented restructuring and improved work processes. We have to understand that we were in the process of creating a car for this 2021 season, and François-Xavier Demaison, our new technical director, only started work halfway through the year.

In 2023 we have to compete with the teams from the middle group. In inviting Sargent, we’re taking a risk, because he’s a beginner. You shouldn’t compare him to such an experienced craftsman as Alex Albon. But here we have to think strategically: if we want to train our racer, if we want to become competitive in the future, it’s important to start working with a young driver as early as possible. We understand that next year we cannot earn as many points as two experienced pilots could add to the team. But we are ready to go for it.”