A curious theory about the wing package used by Williams in the post Spanish Grand Prix test at Barcelona has surfaced in Monaco. NBC Sports presenter Will Buxton has discussed on air the idea that Williams was using the unusual looking wing package in order to optimise the balance of its 2016 car rather than the previously explained reason of simulating a 2017 aero package.
Buxton’s theory which has reportedly been confirmed by sources within the team is that Williams has lost its way somewhat with the balance and setup of the FW38. The wing package used in Barcelona features adjustable elements front and rear. The movement of these elements was automated, controlled by an onboard computer, the computer was said to be responding to signals from a yaw sensor fitted to the car along with the steer angle, air speed and possibly torque demand. The idea behind it is that the computer would react to the car if it was understeering or oversteering and adjust the wings elements to accordingly, this would at least in theory allow the Williams engineers to find a balanced aerodynamic setup on the car, once they had found the numbers the wings on the race car could be set or reworked accordingly to suit.
Investigation of images from the test do not really back up the theory (though the selection is limited), as comparisons of the car on track seem to show the wing elements being in a constant position at all times. However the theory would explain the large components added ...