New Williams fan here/Current Ferrari Fan/Carlos fan

[u/wifikid_25]

Hey, what's up, y'all? I've been a fan of Carlos Sainz ever since I started watching F1, so it was natural that I find myself here, wanting to know more about Williams itself. I am mostly a Ferrari fan but I want to keep in touch with Williams and I hope the best for Carlos and Williams as a whole.

My main question is: is there a place I can gain knowledge about how Williams operates as an F1 team? Who are the people at the factory? Who are the people in the pits? What are Williams's strengths and weaknesses? What do they usually do throughout the season, from their shakedown to their strategies at GPs? What traits do their cars have? What are the characteristics of the team and the car?

I will note that I've listened to James' videos on his updates from the team and honestly he's got this calm to him that is very unique and I'm intrigued as to what he's going to do with it next year.

I know a lot already about Ferrari, having visited Maranello myself, but I'd love to know more about Williams in time for the upcoming season. I think it's going to be an exciting season for all.

[u/postbox134]

Welcome! More recently, James' videos are great. The last few years have been an interesting ride - 2014 was very strong with the Merc engine and Mass/Bottas which slowly dropped off over the rest of the decade, worst in 2019/2020 with 1 and 0 points in the WCC. COVID + the ROKiT saga basically called time on the team as it stood - leading to it's current private equity ownership. Claire Williams did a recent podcast talking about that time in detail which was interesting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Bg7bOTZL9o

From about 2014-2023 Williams was one of the most efficient cars on the grid - i.e. downforce for drag, but peak downforce was very bad. This meant the car was tricky to drive (lower downforce gives the drivers less scope for mistakes) and peaky (Monza, Canada etc. were good tracks, most tracks were poor) - we'd typically score points only on a handful of weekends a year. More recently, there's been an effort to make a more well rounded car. Williams has been budget constrained for many years and lacked investment - it's well documented that James is changing a lot of this in anticipation for 2026 - i.e. replacing Excel and hiring lots of staff. Historically F1 didn't require this, but since 2010 that has changed completely. Don't expect too much next year, the target is probably P8 or P7 in the WCC as a holding year while resources are spent on 2026 - same for most/every team (except perhaps Ferrari/McLaren/Red Bull who will be fighting for the WDC/WCC)

Williams has a bunch of history- if you want a view into that and the Claire Williams era check this out: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6981046/ (the book is also excellent - by Frank Williams' wife in secret https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35873311-a-different-kind-of-life - very sad though regarding his serious health issues).

Also Adrian Newey's book has a lot about his time at Williams back when we were winning a lot - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35657708-how-to-build-a-car