Williams FW46
The Williams FW46 is a Formula One racing car designed and constructed by Williams [Grand Prix Engineering|Williams] to compete in the 2024 Formula [One World Championship]. The car was driven by Alexander Albon, Logan Sargeant and Franco Colapinto, the latter of whom replaced Sargeant for the final nine races of the season. Throughout the season, which was riddled with numerous incidents, the team scored 17 points.
Design and development
The FW46 was first revealed on 5 February 2024. It featured a livery largely similar to the one run on the FW44 and FW45 cars. The car is Williams' first to utilise an on-wheel multi-function display, the previous cars having the display set on the chassis itself.Williams changed their car manufacturing process for 2024 in an attempt to modernise its systems. This meant that Williams initially had to produce metal car parts to save time, instead of the carbon fiber that modern Formula One cars are built out of. However, this actually led to them exceeding the weight limit, and the team was losing 0.45 seconds a lap. Additionally, the usage of metal parts resulted in heavier crash damage.
Williams has raced special liveries on the FW46. For the Mexico City Grand Prix|Mexico City] and 2024 [São Paulo Grand Prix|São Paulo Grands Prix], Williams introduced a special Mercado Libre livery to commemorate its newfound partnership with the Argentine online marketplace. Mercado Libre became an official partner of Williams after the signing of Franco Colapinto.
Livery
The livery for the FW46 saw minor changes from the FW45. The engine cover design featured a tribute to the Frank Williams Racing Cars logo.Williams raced a special "championship yellow" livery in collaboration with Mercado Libre for the Mexico City and São Paulo Grands Prix and with Keeper Security for the 2024 [Las Vegas Grand Prix|Las Vegas Grand Prix]. For the 2024 [United States Grand Prix|United States Grand Prix], Williams raced a fan-chosen rear wing livery in collaboration with Kraken.
Season summary
At the season opener at the Bahrain International Circuit, Albon and Sargeant qualified 13th and 18th respectively, finishing in 15th and 20th. At the 2024 [Saudi Arabian Grand Prix|Saudi Arabian Grand Prix], the drivers started 12th and 19th and finished in 11th and 14th. As there was no spare chassis available, Sargeant withdrew from the to allow teammate Albon to use his chassis; Albon had crashed heavily in practice and the team were unable to repair his car. Albon ultimately finished in twelfth. Sargeant damaged the repaired chassis in the following during the first free practice session.Sargeant was dropped from the onwards with Williams Academy driver Franco Colapinto stepping up from his Formula 2 Championship|Formula 2] campaign to take his place for the remainder of the season. At, the team achieved their first double-points finish of the season with Albon in seventh and Colapinto in eighth. In the process, Colapinto became the first Argentine driver since Carlos Reutemann to score points in 1982.