Williams F1 car still losing performance to cooling issues

Williams boss James Vowles has said his team is still chasing a permanent solution for its cooling issues as its temporary fixes are costing it valuable performance in the 2025 Formula 1 season.

Both Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz have regularly suffered from engine overheating issues in recent races, most notably in Spain, Canada and Austria, with Albon being forced to retire in Montreal and Spielberg as a result. Sainz has also encountered overheating on the brakes.

Albon's retirement from a points-paying position in Austria particularly hurt Williams as it has largely turned off its development tap for 2025 before its nearest midfield rivals, so it is relying on clean race weekend execution to defend its dwindling lead in the fight for fifth against a resurgent Sauber among others.

Vowles says the team has contained the issue for now, but its fixes mean the car is leaving lap time on the table. 

"We've obviously been hindered by this cooling issue that's been there for a few races this year, but probably more marked in the Austria retirement when we were running in a very strong position," Vowles said.

"We did a lot of work in FP1 [in Silverstone], with a different programme to most cars in order to get on top of it, and we're doing something different between Alex and Carlos.

James Vowles, Williams

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

"We have solutions in place that mean we can get the car through the race, but it's at the cost of performance. Ideally, what we're looking for is containments that allow us to make sure we're not throwing away anything in terms of performance going forward, and the team is working diligently on that as we speak."

Although Vowles didn't go into specifics, cooling inlets that are bigger than necessary come with a drag penalty. Brake duct and winglet shapes on both the front and rear corners have also become an area of intense aerodynamic development, as they help control the wake coming from the tyres.

Williams will bring a modest upgrade to next week's Belgian Grand Prix, with Vowles hoping that even a small boost will help the British squad regain some momentum in a tense midfield battle against improved competition.

"Now we have a small update coming to Spa, what we really have to do though is just make sure we capitalise on the car performance that we have available to us," he added.

"There are still points that we can score between here to the end of the year, it's making sure that we execute the weekends cleanly and take every opportunity that comes towards us.

"We have a number of really good races coming up for us, and it's about delivering the result that the car has in it."