How Williams are looking to stay one step ahead with new FW47 updates
Williams splurged on development for the Belgian Grand Prix, introducing a raft of new performance parts for the FW47 for the first time this season, the team having opted to place more focus on 2026 in an attempt to make a leap forward up the grid.
The update package introduced at Spa included numerous revisions to their floor and sidepods, as they attempt to unlock more of the FW47’s latent potential, whilst also fending off the progress made by their rivals.
Evolution, not revolution
Williams has appeared to struggle with cooling on occasions during the opening phase of the season and so whilst there’s also clearly aerodynamic reasoning behind some of the changes they’ve made, the sidepod inlet does appear to offer more volume than before.
This should also help in futureproofing their endeavours as we’re entering a stage in the season where this will become more of a factor, with the hotter venues packed into the second half of the calendar.
The inlet itself is now a different shape, as the lower lip has been brought forward and slung further down at the chassis end, whilst it’s been raised on the sidepod’s shoulder.
These geometrical alterations have also resulted in some changes to the bodywork thereafter too, with the sidepod’s underbelly also revised, in order to optimise the airflow’s trajectory as it moves downstream.
The dotted line on the image above shows how the undercut and midline have been raised, altering the airflow’s passage to the rear of the car and resulting in a similar adjustment being made to the floor’s edge and edge wing to extract more performance from these.
Again, the alterations are subtle but, the camber of the upturned section of the edge wing and the vanes connected to it have been optimised, whilst the rear cutout and tyre spat section have also been modified.
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There’s also further changes to the floor fences, both where they’re exposed at the front of the floor assembly and to their geometry as they work under the front section of the floor to their trailing edge, where they emerge on the edge of the floor, ahead of the edge wing.
A sixth place finish for Carlos Sainz in the Sprint and fifth place for Alex Albon in the race also confirms that Williams have some of the ingredients needed to hang with the pack ahead of them, which has already been validated by their points haul this season, placing them solidly in the best of the rest category.
However, as Alex Albon suggests, they know they still have work to do, with many of their rivals having installed new parts ahead of them and seemingly having made up ground.
“We obviously saw a lot of our rivals putting on upgrades, and us falling back. So it was a bit of a statement from us to kind of, I think, firstly, prove that when we do bring upgrades, they work, and then get a good points haul,” Albon said.
“I don’t think it will necessarily carry over to every race, especially this weekend, but, yeah, we were falling back, and it was good to get back.”
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