After going through a somewhat lean period in the last few years battling for bottom of the table, drivers were aware of a wind sensitivity problem that sometimes made their car difficult to drive.
However, with fresh momentum and without the burden of developing an entirely new chassis, Williams actually made some quick strides to get past the problem.
In addition, a fairly large upgrade introduced at the French Grand Prix helped unlock more of the car’s latent potential and laid the foundation for its Q3 form in Austria.
Here we take a look at the upgrade that contributed to this increase in performance.
Williams FW43B bargeboard comparison
Starting with the bargeboard cluster, the team didn’t feel the need to completely redesign the entire design.
Instead, each of the changes are about tuning the airflow for a better response and solving the wind sensitivity issue riders mentioned earlier in the season.
The wash-out ribs mounted on top of the multi-element base plate were not only inserted in the existing stack (marked in green), but also directly behind it in a second row (marked in red).
Meanwhile, under the influence of McLaren, who have had a similar solution since last year, the team added a pair of downwash wings under the boomerang wing and created a framework in which the airflow can now operate (marked in yellow).
The top of the main vertical element has also been adjusted (highlighted in blue), with the team following a minor trend, with the surface broken up into smaller feather-like sections.
William FW43B Soil Comparison
Williams was about to switch to the now almost ubiquitous Z-shaped floor cutout, with the solution in the second race of the season. However, the aerodynamic appendages used in combination with the cutout remained largely the same, with the exception of the triple-fin cluster added at the pivot point.
The team has now replaced the three R-shaped fins in the middle of the cutout and the slightly curved fin right in front of the tire (marked in red) with a group of fins right on the edge of the floor (marked in green).
This is an attempt to replicate the type of flow conditioning that was simpler under the previous regulations, with the ability to control the “tire splash” created by the rear tire to increase the performance of the diffuser.
In an uncontrolled manner, the deformation of the tire injects the air flow sideways into the path of the diffuser when it squeezes under load.
The design of the floor and the aerodynamic devices installed on it aim to reduce this by diverting the flow over and around the tire, thus improving the car’s balance and increasing downforce.
William FW43B ground fins
Williams had already looked at this earlier in the season when it swapped the horizontally mounted triple winglet stack that he had also used throughout the 2020 campaign for a vertical fence, similar to what we saw at Ferrari this year.
Interestingly, this goes well with a vertical fin mounted on the rear brake duct winglet cluster which, as we know, is also narrower by regulation this year.
The update package carried out since the French GP also has a redesigned diffuser layout as the team reduced the height of the outermost strake, a decision we made by several teams this season. This suggests that the new regulations have changed the course of airflow in this region so much that teams feel they need to make adjustments.
William FW43B diffuser comparison
