Williams have improved one key weakness with 2025 F1 upgrade ‘only a few people noticed’

Williams have seen a dramatic improvement in results in the 2025 Formula 1 season. Not many would have expected such a rise this early, given the plans in place for the project.

Team principal James Vowles is preparing for Williams to be a successful outfit in the future, with Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz signed to long-term contracts.

The 2026 F1 regulations are set to transform the sport and the pecking order, with Mercedes set to have the fastest engine. Subsequently, Vowles has sacrificed development in 2025 to focus solely on next season as he looks to take Williams back to the front of the grid.

It has been a torrid few years for the Grove outfit as they have languished at the back of the field. The 2024 campaign was damaging, with heavy crashes costing the team heavily as they scored just 17 points.

In 2025, the team have gone from the back of the grid to the front of the midfield. Albon and Sainz have helped Williams to more than triple their points tally already, both scoring points in the last four races.

Vowles has noticed a ‘palpable’ change at Williams as the energy is high off the back of their success. A key factor to their improvements on track has been from one upgrade that not many took notice of.

Williams have improved in slow-speed corners with a new front wing ‘only a few people noticed’

While Albon and Sainz agree with Williams’ plan to focus on 2026, they have expressed a desire to see development made on the FW47. The duo seemingly got their wish at Suzuka as the team came to the Japanese GP with a new front wing.

While it was not as effective at Suzuka – Albon was P9 and Sainz was P14 – Williams have reaped benefits from the upgrade, particularly in the slow-speed corners.

Journalist Michael Schmidt spoke to Vowles about why the 2025 car is improving despite little development being made. Speaking via the ams.F1 YouTube channel, he says the team have more ‘mechanical grip’ and setup options with the new front wing.

“Williams is interesting now, they haven’t had many upgrades up until now. I said to James Vowles why is the car getting better?” he said.

“[He] says we had one. Only a few people noticed. That was a new front wing at Suzuka and they weren’t that good in Suzuka, but then they realised with this new front wing from Suzuka, they have a lot more options to set up the car mechanically.

“So that means you now have more mechanical grip, I assume you can ride a bit higher, more suspension travel, which will help you in the slow corners, where you were bad before.

“Now they have the slow corners more or less under control. They were always good at the fast ones anyway and the front wing was basically the prerequisite for that.”

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Williams could achieve something for the first time since 2018 at the Spanish Grand Prix

Williams’ recent results show the front wing upgrade is working, with Albon and Sainz scoring points in the last four races. The former has even challenged Ferrari and Mercedes, finishing P5 twice in Jeddah and Miami.

If the team can grab another double points finish, it will mark the first time Williams have seen two cars in the points for five consecutive races since 2018. Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas began the campaign with that streak, going on to finish the season in fifth.

Williams have all they need to challenge at the front come 2026, but they may have a problem on their hands as a rivalry develops with their drivers.

Jolyon Palmer thinks Sainz finds Albon ‘frustrating’, in that he is leading the team after he arrived from Ferrari. The duo will want to fight each other for number one status in the team.