P1racenews AI automatic summary:
Alex Albon has claimed that Williams having an overweight 2024 Formula 1 car has cost it so much performance that it could’ve beaten Mercedes in the opening race. Williams revealed last month that tight deadlines to assemble its FW46 challenger meant that several parts ended up overweight to the tune of 0.045 seconds per lap. […]
Williams faced challenges assembling its FW46 challenger on time, resulting in overweight parts costing them 0.045 seconds per lap and a slump to ninth in the Constructors’ standings this season. Albon acknowledged the team has been playing catch-up, focusing on reducing car weight to improve performance in recent races. He believed that without the weight issue, Williams would have been competing above its rivals and scoring regular points. Albon considered the weight problem as the main reason for Williams’ underperformance compared to the competition and even thought beating Mercedes was possible in Bahrain. However, he anticipated that the weaknesses in Williams’ package might be exposed on Barcelona’s more conventional circuit, despite efforts to reduce weight further.
