For the Williams Racing team 2024 would be a difficult year as they worked to priorities various aspects of the business including those of modernise their infrastructure at their base in Grove through to the continued development of the 2024 Williams FW46 and the various issues that arose from the significant amounts of damage that the team had through various crashes and the impact that this had on managing their F1 Budget Cost Cap.

In regard to the development of the FW46 the start of the 2024 F1 season would see the team arrive with a car for testing that was far from the optimum in terms of various aspects the most noteworthy been its weight. In large part tis was caused by the teams focus being on the upgrading of their facilities.

It would not be until well into the 2024 season that the team would be in a position to bring the first of their upgrades to the FW46. But like many other teams Williams had to contend with limitations across not only financial areas but also in terms of such things as limited aerodynamic testing and development. But as the situation improved at Grove so did the teams ability to bring these upgrades to the FW46. We would see upgrades across such things as weight reduction through the removal of metal parts to be replaced by carbon fiber, upgraded front suspension and improved aerodynamics including new sidepod designs.

Now we are a few weeks away from the revealing of the 2025 FW47. Given the complication of the new 2026 regulations and the desire for Williams to get a head start on its development we most likely will see the FW47 using the FW46 as the basis for its design. Again the need to priortise projects could see the team rely heavily on the FW46 even though their has been a great deal of speculation as to possible changes that could be seen including a new rear suspension derived from the fact that the team will be using the last Mercedes gearbox as well as a changed layout in regards to the various radiators on the car. The FW47 could run a smaller airbox as a result which will help with the airflow over the rear wing.

But for Head of Vehicle Performance Dave Robson he still views the upgraded FW46 design will the basis on which the FW47 will be designed.

Robson had previously commented on the issue of how the team will manage the design, build and development process of the FW47 while at the same time working on the 2026 vehicle.

Robson said: "But obviously it's the same for everyone and I'm sure most people will be fully focused on 2026 very quickly come the new year, and then it will be interesting then to see what people do next year."

Robson added: "For us, there'll be brief periods early next calendar year when the 2026 car will come out of the wind tunnel and that will give us an opportunity for the odd day or two to put the FW47 - so the 2025 car - back in.

"We'll be looking to do that and if we can find some way of bringing performance to it without compromising the 2026 program, then we'll obviously look to do that.

"But I suspect that will end really quite early in the calendar year, and it will be full on from a resource and budget point of view, on the 2026 car."

He said: "It's been an interesting one because this year's car (FW46) and next year's car (FW47), you can largely think of as just one project.

"The work on it will finish quite early next year, and there will be a case of racing it but not doing too much with it.

"That has, partly by serendipity I suppose, allowed us to consider these big updates that will come and bring them quite late in the year, knowing that they effectively, at least inspire or become the baseline for next year's car.

"That already starts to offload some of the work. We've brought some of that FW47 work forward which will allow us to concentrate on the 2026 car as soon as possible."

It will be interesting to see how this balancing act will impact on the teams performances in 2025 with the FW47 as it really does seem that the team has put all their eggs into the 2026 project expecting to achieve the best results under the new regulations.