Four podiums, five points from everyone else: Williams need a broader Spain score

Four podium finishers supplied eighty-one of Williams’ eighty-six BOTT points in Singapore. The other six appearances brought five. Third is a workable start to their title defence, but Cadillac’s fifty-nine-point advantage shows how much more a squad can earn when its score reaches further down the entry list.

Our preseason team forecast backed Williams to retain BOTT, with the rebuilt D2 pairing and a reliable D3 contribution central to the argument. Singapore supplied a podium in each of those divisions. It also left a substantial gap between the drivers who reached the rostrum and the rest. One weekend does not settle that forecast; Spain asks whether the same squad can turn more of its appearances into points.

HP and pwjones retired, while Demaiko and Trident were classified two and four laps down respectively. Those are different outcomes, and the results alone do not explain them. What they share is the cost to the team score: the four podiums have left Williams only one point ahead of Ferrari and four ahead of VCARB.

Team Principal Zopz, who succeeded Webbah this season, puts those losses down to a difficult first weekend:

Webbah wants to start nearer the front

Webbah, still racing for the team he led to last season’s BOTT title, took third from thirteenth on the grid. That recovery gave Williams their D1 points, but he sees the starting position as a problem to fix before it demands another recovery.

HP’s target is clear; the equipment answer is less certain

HP’s account combines an unresolved problem with a blunt assessment of his own preparation. Asked about the force-feedback trouble before his retirement, he says he has not identified it, although it has not recurred in practice. He also thinks he has resolved the screen freezes. That is his assessment ahead of Spain, rather than proof that every issue is behind him.

Poly is currently marked Not Racing for Spain, with Ussh and Lord DabFoot entered for Cadillac in D1. HP makes clear that his one-two ambition does not depend on Poly’s absence. Williams still need both cars to finish before that target can become a team result.

The rest of the squad matters just as much

The listed Williams pairings are unchanged in D1, D2, D3 and E3. D0 currently lists Zozo alongside Demaiko, with Zopz marked Not Racing. That gives Spain a different D0 pairing while the other four divisions get another opportunity with the same drivers.

Zopz is backing Zozo and Demaiko as part of a wider response:

Demaiko’s three Season 7 D0 appearances ended second, second and first. He then took pole in Singapore but finished seventeenth. Williams have evidence for the pace Zopz trusts; turning it into a larger score is the task for the new pairing.

jhazztan and ximqf have already supplied podiums from the divisions our forecast leaned on. A useful next step is for those pairings to bring both cars into the score, alongside the D1 improvement Webbah and HP want. The next round needs to spread the points more widely if Williams are to turn those individual podiums into a stronger title defence.

Webbah’s closing thought on the opening weekend is a modest starting point for that bigger ambition: