£550m F1 team principal adamant that this season’s car would have won races in 2023

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Formula 1 teams bring developments to their cars every race weekend in a bid to improve their performance on track.

Whether it is small winglets that gain them tenths of a second or big upgrade packages, teams now upgrade their cars far more often these days compared to previous years.

As shown by Red Bull, the differences these can make are staggering. Whereas the RB20 started off the season as being the benchmark car to beat, Red Bull have now slipped to being the fourth-quickest car according to Christian Horner.

McLaren’s work behind the scenes in producing a race-winning car and making use of their aerodynamic testing allocation effectively has enabled them to overtake Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship.

Another team that has improved dramatically is Williams, whose cars would be lucky to score points two years ago at the beginning of the current regulation set.

Williams scored on five occasions that season, while the team has equalled that with its double-point outing in Baku with Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto.

While speaking at a Wall Street Journal live event, team principal James Vowles said the FW46 is such a leap in performance compared to last season that he believes it could have challenged for race wins last year.

Williams could have won with FW46 last year

The FW46 suffered a difficult birth after Williams faced a lot of setbacks, including an inefficient car part sorting system on an Excel spreadsheet.

Williams took as much time as possible over the winter to develop their new car, but also suffered some minor reliability issues in pre-season testing.

So far it has proved to be more successful than the 2023 car, with Vowles admitting that it could have won races last year.

“Back in the 2000s it would be very normal to design a car, produce it, then maybe in the year change it once. Maybe not. Now we’re changing the car once every three-to-four weeks. It’s a prototype and you’re never staying still,” said Vowles.

“If I took our Williams this year, it would have been winning races last year. There is no doubt about it. That’s the evolution fundamentally and we’re now in a position where we can score points. But if we stop developing this car, we’ll fall towards the back of the grid.”

Why Carlos Sainz joined Williams for 2025

Williams will have one of the strongest driver lineups of the 2025 season with the arrival of Carlos Sainz alongside Albon next season at the £550m F1 team.

Sainz became a free agent earlier this year and Vowles spoke of how much of an ’emotional rollercoaster’ it was to sign him, given how popular he was among other teams on the grid.

READ MORE: Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz’s life outside F1 from full name, girlfriend and height

As part of Sainz’s £8.5 million-a-year deal with Williams, he reportedly has a clause in his contract that enables him to leave Williams if offered a seat at either Mercedes or Red Bull.

Williams will want to score more points with Colapinto and Albon in the final seven races of the season, knowing that it could lead to millions of dollars in prize money.