Mysterious issues with the new steering wheel and other technical problems mean Williams never show their “true speed” at the Formula 1 opener in Bahrain
Williams was the last team to switch to a steering wheel with an integrated display for the 2024 Formula 1 season. And it was this new steering wheel that caused major problems for both Williams drivers at the opening race in Bahrain
These technical difficulties were already clearly noticeable on lap ten: Logan Sargeant rolled out of turn 4 with the display on his steering wheel flashing. Later, Alexander Albon also struggled with the steering wheel in his Williams FW46.
This is “frustrating” for Sargeant, especially as his team had already experienced electronic problems with the steering wheel in qualifying. “They came up again in the race,” says Sargeant and says: “The steering wheel suddenly developed a life of its own without me doing anything.” In other words, settings were changed without Sargeant having initiated them.
“I thought my race was over, but I managed to drive back to the pits and change the steering wheel. Then the problem didn’t recur. After the steering wheel change, it was fine,” says Sargeant.
Drive overheats on the very first lap
Albon, on the other hand, refers to other technical problems in his account: an alarm message flashed up and caused his steering wheel to “freeze”. He explains: “Such messages take priority over everything else. When that happens, [the message lights up and] you don’t see anything else on the display.”
The Williams team had instructed Albon to make certain changes to the steering wheel settings. “But I couldn’t do that because the alarm filled the whole screen. And that’s annoying because you need the changes.”
In Albon’s case, urgent adjustments were necessary: “The car overheated from lap one. This is probably the result of the problems during testing, combined with too few kilometers,” says Albon.
He had to “turn down the drive almost immediately and keep his distance from the cars in front of me”. “We were also clipping like crazy on the straights.” The battery power was therefore not sufficient for the entire straights, and the car lost the additional power from the hybrid system before the braking zone
Points are a long way off for Williams
“We couldn’t show our true pace like that,” says Albon. “We were actually okay in freewheeling, but overall it wasn’t a clean race for us. Apart from the first stint and the last stint, I was one second over what we should have achieved. That was frustrating. The pace is actually okay.”
Williams has “definitely taken a step forward” with the FW46, emphasizes Albon. The car has become “more drivable”. “But the others have also made a step forward. That’s why everything is relative. And as long as the top 5 teams are consistent and have no technical problems, they are in the top 10.”
And as long as teams like Williams do not have their own technology under control, there is no chance of scoring points. The Williams drivers know that too. Sargeant says: “The most important thing is that we get to the root cause and solve the problems. There is nothing we can’t get to grips with, but we have to understand everything first.”
This also includes the set-up of the FW46, which was “not as good” in the race as in the test or in the second free practice session beforehand, says Sargeant. “That’s why I had problems getting the car into the right operating window.” But compared to the other Williams difficulties, finding the right balance was only a “minor matter.”
