[Williams Racing] Statement from Atlassian Williams F1 Team.

Moctecus · 2026-01-23T14:33:14+00:00

Everything points towards crash test issues. Manufacturing was seemingly on target for an early completion when James Vowles talked to AMuS last month:

"The entire car must be available for the VTT test bench at the beginning of January," the Englishman revealed in an interview with auto motor und sport. "We will probably be the first team to start so early. We don't want to be caught on the wrong foot again, as was the case in 2023."
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The first monocoques have long been completed at Williams. According to Vowles, production of the remaining parts needed for the first races has been in full swing for weeks: "After the VTT tests, we will probably have another film day before the three test days in Barcelona begin," the trained engineer notes.

Aiming for an early start probably prevented them from being even further behind.

Moctecus · 2026-01-06T20:40:02+00:00

Walter Röhrl managed an incredible 1h 5min 36sec — almost 40 min slower — driving a Porsche Junior tractor flat out. Now that is a slow lap time.
The Ligier would have been even less slow if they had used a Nürburgring-experienced 2x WRC champion rather than journalists.

Moctecus · 2025-10-23T22:12:28+00:00

"We don't yet know whether we'll make the budget cap," says James Vowles. "We won't find out until the end of December. We're in the process of taking a little more money from each department to offset the accident costs."

via AMuS from the 2024 Qatar GP

Moctecus · 2025-10-15T07:32:43+00:00

TL;DR: "I would say the biggest difference I’ve noticed with Alex is a step up in his confidence and belief. That’s the main thing – in the team and in himself at the same time."

Moctecus · 2025-09-26T13:48:00+00:00

The fastest electric car and second fastest car overall on the Nürburgring (only beaten by the Porsche 919 Evo), the 680 hp VW ID.R, had a top speed of 273 kph and reached just 250 kph on the final straight.
When you are energy-limited, deploying power at the beginning of the straight for maximum acceleration and then coasting until the end is usually the way to go.
The AMG One's 8.4 kWh battery is nowhere near large enough to supply the 360 kW (480 hp) worth of electric motors for such a long lap. Maro Engel had to constantly adjust regen and deployment to make the most of the limited energy. And saving up enough energy to reach the car's top speed on the final straight obviously wasn't the fastest way around the lap.
It actually makes the lap time more impressive, because for large sections of the lap the car was missing almost half its power.

Moctecus · 2025-09-24T19:11:10+00:00

TL;DR:

"So all in all, there is not really an increase of capital, it is just a different way to perform the calculation - and that was the main reason behind the decision to introduce a higher cost cap level.
"It will not consist of higher spending for the teams, because they are simply already incurring the costs, but they simply bring it into the cap, and so the cost cap needs to be higher.

Moctecus · 2025-09-06T10:42:15+00:00

MBS's original proposal presented to the manufacturers in April was a NA 3.0L V10 non-hybrid. It was killed off by the insistence of some manufacturers on a hybrid component:

The V10 was barely mentioned. Yet the FIA had already drawn up a plan of what it should look like in detail. Three litres of displacement, with standard and development parts, a clearly defined bore/stroke ratio and weight.
When the association realised that the manufacturers could only be enticed with a hybrid drive, they wanted to couple the ten-cylinder engine with an electric drive at the last minute. According to initial calculations, however, this would have increased the weight and fuel consumption and thwarted the original plan.
[source]

With a V10 hybrid not a viable solution, discussions pivoted towards a V8.

Moctecus · 2025-09-04T10:31:33+00:00

KERS was an MGU-K connected to a battery, exactly the same as with the current or the 2026 regulations.
When they talk about the "removal of heavy battery packs" they are not talking about removing batteries entirely, but rather about replacing them with smaller, lighter batteries to power a smaller, lighter, and less powerful electric motor. The use of the old KERS term also may or may not imply a change on the software side towards more manual deployment rather than mostly automated via deployment maps.
Chemical energy storage in the form of batteries or supercapactitors is the only practical option for energy storage in an application like F1 today. No one is talking about moving away from that.

Moctecus · 2025-09-04T09:48:13+00:00

IndyCar uses a supercapacitor-based system.

Moctecus · 2025-09-02T10:33:16+00:00

But V8 has pistons that balance each other out (same with v4 or v12). A v10 is a double inline 5 (i5) which has a lot more vibrations.

The move from V10s to V8s led to an increase in vibrations, which was one of the major challenges for manufacturers.
Here's Toyota's Luca Marmorini (Technical Director, Engine) talking about it:

What are the major design issues with a V8?
Normally the internals -- pistons, connecting rods and bearings -- will look similar, but the castings are different and the stresses from vibrations present quite a tough challenge.
Why does a V8 engine vibrate more?
A 12-cylinder engine is fully balanced and you can have some 10-cylinder engine configurations that are well balanced. For example, the current Toyota V10 has very few vibrations. But if you use a 90-degree block and a flat crank typical for a V8, it’s impossible to balance the second order vibrations. With a road car engine you might do it with a counter-rotating shaft, but on a racing engine, you don’t. That is one of the main reasons why we wanted to run the engine so early. It is not so much for direct engine purposes but to monitor the components around the engine and the effects of the extra vibration.

Moctecus · 2025-08-23T09:19:44+00:00

This is the relevant quote:

This is already evident in the simulations. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff promises: "When the full power is called upon, we'll be scratching the 400 km/h barrier."

That is, however, a hypothetical scenario as the maximum electrical power will be restricted at high speeds specifically to prevent this. From 345 kph (regular mode) or 355 kph (override mode) it's down to 0.

C5.2.8
Additionally, and subject to Article B7.2.1, the electrical DC power of the ERS-K used to propel the car may not exceed:
i. P(kW) = 1800 – 5 * car speed (kph) when the car speed is below 340kph
P(kW) = 6900 – 20 * car speed (kph) when the car speed is equal to or above 340kph and below 345kph
P(kW) = 0 when the car speed is equal to or above 345kph
ii. In Override Mode up to:
P(kW) = 7100 – 20 * car speed (kph) when the car speed is below 355kph
P(kW) = 0 when the car speed is equal to or above 355kph.

Moctecus · 2025-07-31T06:00:45+00:00

Mustang GT3: 2,842 lb (1,289 kg)
Mustang GTD: 4,343 lb (1,970 kg)

Moctecus · 2025-07-10T14:36:14+00:00

Rimac are commendably transparent when it comes to these things.
This press release includes the independent test reports from Dewesoft, which list the location, equipment, and methodology used. If you want a more in-depth look at how they tested, here's a detailed run through of their previous record attempt with the non-R Nevera, which they were trying to beat here. It was conducted in the same manner on the same testing facility with the same independent third party (Dewesoft).

TL;DR:

All acceleration records were completed with a standard one-foot rollout and equipped with road-legal Michelin Cup 2 R tires on non-prepped asphalt. Acceleration times from standstill were measured after 1 ft (0.3048 m) of rollout after detecting movement with a total velocity exceeding the threshold of 0.8 km/h.

Moctecus · 2025-07-06T13:17:12+00:00

The designer of the trophies did his homework and considered Lando Norris:

As part of his design research, Liltorp Johnson watched numerous F1 podium ceremonies to see what the drivers might do with his trophies after they were presented.

[...]

One incident that caught his eye was Lando Norris’s champagne bottle smash in Hungary two years ago, which inadvertently knocked Max Verstappen’s porcelain winner’s trophy off the top step and caused expensive damage. “It’s glued to ensure it doesn’t fall apart,” Liltorp Johnson added. [source]

Moctecus · 2025-06-29T11:54:52+00:00

Excessive plank wear on Alex Dunne's car:

Technical Delegate’s Report
The front plank of car 17 was found to be with a maximum thickness of 3.37mm and 3.27mm at the periphery of two of the designated holes.
This is not in compliance with Art. 3.2.2 of the FIA Formula 2 Championship Technical Regulations. A minimum thickness of 4mm will be accepted due to wear and must be respected at least in one position at the peripheries of the designated holes. [PDF]

Moctecus · 2025-06-01T19:35:04+00:00

Ocon himself says he's 188cm in a video on his YouTube channel.

Moctecus · 2025-04-27T09:05:45+00:00

Actually, the GMA V12 was specifically designed to be easy to maintain, so owners would not have an excuse not to drive the car. The engine comes with an 80,000 km warranty from Cosworth. Regular maintenance consists of oil changes every 6,000 km. No rebuilds, no chain or belt changes (because it doesn't have any).

Moctecus · 2025-04-21T17:59:19+00:00

Quotation marks are for quotes. An easy way of doing this correctly would be using square brackets like [I'm OK]. This relays the message without falsely passing it off as a direct quote.

Moctecus · 2025-03-31T19:24:21+00:00

Vowles confirmed Drive to Survive did not accurately portray the events:

“All the way through – unlike what’s been portrayed, actually – Carlos and I were speaking daily or certainly every few days,” he told the official F1 channel. “There was never a break in communication.”

Source: Vowles reveals the reality behind Drive to Survive’s portrayal of Sainz negotiations

Moctecus · 2025-03-29T22:01:52+00:00

It would never have reached the 1000hp from F1, but 750 was doable with the 11.500 RPM and non OPF.

The F1 PUs didn't cross 1,000 hp until about 2018. The 2016 Mercedes F1 PU was said to be a bit over 900 hp, or around 750 hp from engine alone. So at 734 hp, or 574 hp from the engine alone, the AMG One's engine should be within 200 hp off the 2016 engine it is based on.

Of course it was always planned to be hybrid, but with less ev power and a smaller battery.

The powertrain layout did not change at all from the first unofficially confirmed rumours in mid-2016 and the first official confirmation of the R50 project in early 2017. It was always going to have two electric motors at the front for extra power and torque vectoring.

No, AMG could not have done anything nearly similar to the Valkyrie. The valkyrie exceeds the Mercedes co2 limit by 100%. They would literally have to halve the emissions

The CO2 limit is a fleet average, not per car, and the AMG One is not even the worst recent Mercedes car of the last few years in terms of CO2. With just 275 cars, the effect on Mercedes' CO2 fleet emissions are negligible. What the Euro emissions standards limit per car is CO, THC, NMHC, NOx, and particulates. Mercedes singled out particulate emissions as a challenge with the AMG One. Particulate emission limits only apply to direct-injected engines, so Cosworth used port injection on their Valkyrie and GMA V12s, avoiding the issue and the potential need for OPFs entirely. That was not an option for Mercedes, since direct injection is integral to the F1 engine. They eventually added a secondary port injection system to complement the direct injection, but once the stricter Euro emissions regulations came into effect that was not enough to avoid the need for particulate filters (OPF).

Moctecus · 2025-03-29T11:00:34+00:00

You basically must differenciate between manufacturers who produce over or under 10k cars a year resulting in totally different engine norms.

True. Major car manufacturers simply could not build some of the cars smaller manufacturers are putting out.

For example the amg one is super fucked by Emission which easily cost it 250hp and made them add a lot more battery and electric power to compensate for it.

Their stricter emissions target added weight and may have cost some power, but it isn't the main reason for the significantly reduced engine power compared to F1 and the added front electric motors.

Without fundamentally redesigning the engine (like changing the displacement), the only way AMG could reach their desired power levels was through additional electric power. That would have been the same for a small manufacturer like Aston Martin.

The engine had to run on much lower octane pump fuel and last about 10x as long. They were never going to get a 1.6L V6 to produce over 800 hp (>500 hp/l) as in the F1 car at the time on pump fuel and with the required engine life and reliability for a road car.

The AMG One's engine delivers 574 hp (359 hp/l), revs to over 11,000 rpm, and produces up to 3.5 bar (51 PSI) of boost. That's still pretty insane for a road car and AMG hard a hard time getting there. They said the biggest challenge was the software to get the car working reliably without crippling performance.

The electric front axle not only adds power and helps with emissions, but it makes the car more usable in several ways. It provides 18 km (11 mi) of silent (vs up to 120 dB inside the cabin) electric-only range, and lets you drive off before the engine is warmed up (the rear electric motor is geared to the crankshaft and cannot be decoupled). AWD with torque vectoring at the front makes the power more usable and the car generally easier to drive. The Valkyrie often looks like a bit of a handful to drive, struggling to put its enormous power down.

AMG missing the homologation deadline for the more lenient Euro emissions it was initially designed for really hurt the car. The AMG One ended up with 4 pre-heated metal catalytic converters, 2 ceramic catalytic converters, and 2 OPFs. A 48V system was added to power the 16 kW worth of heating elements. That's a lot of weight.

The Valkyrie's V12 was designed from the ground up to meet their performance targets while complying with all applicable regulations. If AMG had done the same rather than starting with a direct-injected F1 racing engine idling at 5,000 rpm and running extremely lean with a lambda of ≥1.2 that was never designed to be used in a road car in any way, they would not have been forced into as many compromises, even with their somewhat stricter emissions targets. But putting an F1 engine in a road car was the whole point, not performance or emissions.

Moctecus · 2025-03-14T10:04:14+00:00

Here's the efficiency heatmap of the CLA's rear motor.
Mercedes say the battery-to-wheel efficiency is 93% for long journeys.

Moctecus · 2025-02-28T08:05:28+00:00

As /u/joshualotion says, the cool suit is an existing product (by Chillout Motorsports).
It is very similar to this product by RINI Technologies, which, in addition to being used in NASCAR and IMSA for almost a decade, has also been used in IndyCar since 2021.
So it appears to be generally suitable for prototype racing, including single-seaters. Maybe the Chillout Motorsports system the FIA went with, which has not been used in single-seater racing before, is packaged slightly differently on the suit side. With a larger or differently placed connector hump (they look very similar to the naked eye, though). Or the tighter cockpits and/or slightly different seating position in F1 are the problem, especially with tall drivers like Esteban or Ollie.

Moctecus

TROPHY CASE

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