Williams FW48

A place to discuss the characteristics of the cars in Formula One, both current as well as historical. Laptimes, driver worshipping and team chatter do not belong here.
JPower
JPower
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Joined: 23 Feb 2021, 05:06

Re: Williams FW48

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From a layman's perspective, I see that Williams does not have the aggressive undercut on the sidepods that the other teams have. What might be the purpose of this? Creating outwash?

tomazy
tomazy
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Joined: 10 Jan 2006, 13:01

Re: Williams FW48

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As Williams had smaller sidepods in the past, and as these years engine are more efficient (less cooling required) I would asume that those big sidepods are not there becouse Williams can't make them smaller but are a design choise. Why? I dont know, maybe bigger is better this year, or maybe they are working on a more compct/complex solution that was not quite ready fot the start of the season and just got something siple to start with. Or theses are just for testing?

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roadie
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Joined: 08 Feb 2011, 13:52

Re: Williams FW48

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The back of the car almost reminds me of some of the past Williams cars with the tiny gearbox.

edu2703
edu2703
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Joined: 03 Jun 2015, 23:47
Location: Brazil

Re: Williams FW48

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AR3-GP
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Joined: 06 Jul 2021, 01:22

Re: Williams FW48

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Beware of T-Rex

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roadie
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Joined: 08 Feb 2011, 13:52

Re: Williams FW48

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What about those slots? They are pretty usual no?

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AR3-GP
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Joined: 06 Jul 2021, 01:22

Re: Williams FW48

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roadie wrote:
11 Feb 2026, 11:56
What about those slots? They are pretty usual no?
Most teams have closed-ended vents.
Beware of T-Rex

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bananapeel23
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Joined: 14 Feb 2023, 22:43
Location: Sweden

Re: Williams FW48

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These vents/slots are interesting given that they are at different heights and are shaped like airfoils. What are the regulations like in this area? How many elements are you allowed, how far above the floor can they be?

Either way, the fact that they aren't slots, but actual elements is interesting. To the eye it looks like some of them will be spinning up some counter-clockwise vortices that will extract some air from under the floor. Are they sucking some air out from under the floor in an attempt to seal it better and increase ground effect, similar to the floor edge wings of the last regulation set?

Or are we looking at elements purely focused on spinning up vortices that try to control the tyre squirt by sending them along the inboard side of the tyre?

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AR3-GP
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Joined: 06 Jul 2021, 01:22

Re: Williams FW48

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They have an extension of the diffuser next to the impact attennuator. The only other car I have seen this on is the Ferrari. Seems like a loophole.

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Ozan
Ozan
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Joined: 05 Jan 2012, 01:50

Re: Williams FW48

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a really nice picture on diffuser area and high rake on williams car

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roadie
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Joined: 08 Feb 2011, 13:52

Re: Williams FW48

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Car seems to have a lot more volume in the side pod and cooling exits than other teams. I wonder if a v2 will be tested before the start of the season?

JPower
JPower
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Joined: 23 Feb 2021, 05:06

Re: Williams FW48

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roadie wrote:
11 Feb 2026, 13:51
Car seems to have a lot more volume in the side pod and cooling exits than other teams. I wonder if a v2 will be tested before the start of the season?
I'm thinking its a purposeful choice given the level of design that has gone into the rest of the car.

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dren
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Joined: 03 Mar 2010, 14:14

Re: Williams FW48

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JPower wrote:
11 Feb 2026, 15:21
roadie wrote:
11 Feb 2026, 13:51
Car seems to have a lot more volume in the side pod and cooling exits than other teams. I wonder if a v2 will be tested before the start of the season?
I'm thinking its a purposeful choice given the level of design that has gone into the rest of the car.
I'm guessing low internal drag if they stick with this. Looks quite developed in areas.
Honda!

johnnycesup
johnnycesup
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Joined: 13 Sep 2024, 11:31

Re: Williams FW48

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johnnycesup wrote:
04 Feb 2026, 04:38
ScottB wrote:
03 Feb 2026, 22:56
The spec sheet claims it weighs 772.4kg. Interesting given a couple days ago Vowles reckoned it was impossible to know the weight at this stage...
When they say "772.4 kg (FIA Minimum, non-heat-hazard event)" aren't they kind of dodging the issue and just quoting the regulations?

The full weight is actually not in the regulations, it depends on the weight of the wheel assemblies so maybe that's why the teams have different numbers. Also, even if the actual number was 768 and the car is 4kg overweight they're sure as hell not updating that number as the updates roll in

In short, I call BS

EDIT: Article C4.1 - "The minimum mass is 724kg plus the NOMINAL TYRE MASS"
Per the-race:
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/9-th ... n-f1-test/
team boss James Vowles admitted that its official claim of being 772.4kg – just 4.4kg over the minimum weight – was just “a press pack figure”...

Although Vowles fell short of revealing what the car weight actually is, he has said that efforts will be made after the start of the season to shed some excess.
So that 772.4kg figure was always false, of course.

cecogor
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Joined: 11 Aug 2017, 09:12

Re: Williams FW48

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the-race

"...The Williams appeared quite a handful, early on Thursday evening at least, and Carlos Sainz didn’t seem to be having a good time at all..."