The fact that Williams is already working on the 2022 season is not that surprising. Just like every other F1-team on the grid, the British team is already busy preparing for next year. Dave Robson, head of vehicle performance, sees his team in the same situation as Ferrari. This is what he says in conversation with Autosport.
According to Ferrari sport director Laurent Mekies the Italian team is already 90 to 95% committed to 2022. Robson thinks Williams will be close to that as well. “We’re probably not too far away from that I think. Certainly, the time in the windtunnel is almost entirely next year’s car. The vast majority, a massively high proportion of the aero department are all working on next year’s car. The same goes for the design office. So, we’re just in the final throes of the last few new bits for this car. Yeah, we’re probably very similar to Ferrari in those percentages.” Robson said.
Still, Robson thinks there’s a bit more to come from the car this year. “There are a few bits and pieces we’re not fully on top of – a few test pieces that we’ve had on the car, we’ve taken back off and we’re still refining. So, I think there’s still a bit more to come from it. It probably isn’t going to change our world massively as the season goes on, but there’s still more to come. Definitely. We will keep pushing that. I think we can eek a bit more out of it.” So expect a few more minor updates for Nicolas Latifi and George Russell this year.
