加里·安德森：威廉姆斯减重升级的真正价值几何
威廉姆斯在阿塞拜疆大奖赛带来已久的减重升级，塞恩斯排位赛成绩第九快（随后受罚），并结束了近三个月的得分荒。加里·安德森通过把圈速换算成当周末最快圈速百分比的方法，评估这次升级的真实幅度。
威廉姆斯期待已久的阿塞拜疆大奖赛升级带来了几乎是其2026年一级方程式赛季最好的排位赛表现——塞恩斯排位赛成绩第九快（随后接受发车位处罚）——并结束了近三个月的得分荒。
但这次升级的幅度到底有多大？巴库给我们的图景又有多准确？
评估研发究竟是让车队前进、原地踏步，还是实际上倒退，向来都很困难。
我们所能做的，是逐一分析每场比赛的表现，把圈速换算成当周末最快圈速的百分比，这样得出的数字不受赛道长度影响，也不受干湿、湿滑、抓地力高低、冷热甚至风力等条件的影响。
因此，观察四强之外各车队的位置，我们可以利用巴库站以及此前各站比赛的表现来进行比较。
这一比较基于本赛季至今的平均表现，而不是单场比赛。不过，最好和最差的数据，以及出现在哪条赛道，也一并列出供对比。这就是老话所说的：“一燕不成夏”。
威廉姆斯车队抵达巴库时大幅减重。我在空气动力学方面没有看到太多能提升其性能的改动，因此按照以往每增加10公斤重量会损失0.3秒以上单圈时间的平均值来推算，这就是他们减重幅度所对应的水平。
这些百分比是与每个分站周末的最快成绩相比得出的，但我没有将它们重新归零，而是保持原样，因为这样能显示出四强与接下来五支车队之间的差距。
如果只看威廉姆斯在巴库的表现与车队赛季平均水平相比，速度快了0.759%。考虑到这一点，以及威廉姆斯在空气动力学方面并没有多少可圈可点之处，我会把这一进步归因于减重20公斤。
这是一大步，但现实是威廉姆斯本来就不应该以超重状态开始这个赛季。
唯一的瑕疵是，威廉姆斯在五月的迈阿密其实离车群前方以及中游集团更近那么一点点。
不过，在巴库总体排名第六快的车队，比本赛季至今总体第九快要好得多。
这个对比中另一个有趣的事实，我认为它证明了动力单元比底盘更重要：被比较的五支车队中有四支的最佳表现都出现在蒙扎，而我们都知道这是一条非常依赖动力的赛道。
看看阿尔派，它是八月休赛期后第一支在赞德沃特引入重大升级的车队，因此它有更多时间去掌握所需的调校，从而最大化赛车在那里的表现。
最近几场比赛中，它一直在相当显著地缩小与小红牛的差距。
另一个令人担忧的事实是，奥迪尽管做了这么多研发，在巴库却出现了退步。这一点应该让它感到担心。
不过，与阿尔派不同的是，这是奥迪第一次使用这套新空气动力学套件参赛，所以尽管车队内部认为它运作良好，但也许车队没能在仅仅一个比赛周末里把它的潜力完全发挥出来。
是的，这些推测都是基于单场比赛与赛季平均水平对比得出的，但“风之城”巴库与蒙扎很相似：都非常依赖动力单元，而且由于排位赛中的大风条件，整车全部表面上的空气动力学稳健性对圈速至关重要。
对于威廉姆斯来说，这至少是一个意味着它能重新争夺积分的进步，尽管这场比赛并不顺利：亚历克斯·阿尔本撞车退赛，塞恩斯则不得不从最低第18位一路追赶回来。而且正如阿尔本所提醒的，“即使没有这次升级，这种类型的赛道本来也会对我们有利”。
这意味着，只有等我们看过升级后的威廉姆斯FW48在更多类型赛道上的表现之后，才能知道它是否能成为排位赛第三节（Q3）的常客级威胁。
英文原文
Williams’s long-awaited Azerbaijan Grand Prix upgrade produced almost its best qualifying performance of the 2026 Formula 1 season - with Carlos Sainz ninth-fastest before his grid penalty - and ended a points drought of almost three months.
But how big is the upgrade really, and how accurate a picture does Baku really give us?
It’s always difficult to assess if developments have moved a team forward, stood still or, in effect, gone backwards.
All we can do is look at each individual performance and, by converting the laptime into a percentage of the fastest for that given weekend, it gives us a number that is not dependent on the track length, or whether it's wet, dry, slippery, grippy, hot, cold or even windy.
So, looking at the position of the teams outside of the big four, we can build a comparison using performance in Baku and in the previous races.
It is based on the average performance over the season so far, so not individual races. However, the best and worst numbers, and at which circuit, are there for comparison. It’s the old saying: ‘one swallow doesn’t make a summer’.
Williams arrived in Baku with a major reduction in weight. I didn’t see very much aerodynamically that would have improved its performance, so taking the old 0.3+ seconds average loss in laptime for 10 kilos of extra weight, this is what we get as to the level of their weight reduction.
These percentages are compared to the fastest for each individual weekend but, as opposed to re-zeroing them, I am leaving them as they are, as this shows the gaps that separate the big four from the next five teams.
If we just take the Williams performance in Baku compared to the team's season average, it is 0.759% faster. Considering that, and the fact that Williams didn’t have much to talk about aero-wise, I would put that improvement down to 20kg of weight saving.
That’s a big step, but the reality is Williams shouldn’t have started the season overweight.
The only fly in the ointment is that Williams was actually just that little bit closer to the front of the pack, and with that the midfield bunch, in Miami back in May.
However, sixth-fastest team overall in Baku is a lot better than ninth fastest overall for the season so far.
The other interesting fact from this comparison, which I think proves that the power unit is more important than the chassis, is that four of those five teams compared had their best performance at Monza, a circuit we know is very power-dependent.
Looking at Alpine, it was the first to introduce a major upgrade after the August break at Zandvoort, so it has had more time to get on top of the required set-up to maximise its performance around it.
In the last few races, it has been closing the gap down to Racing Bulls fairly dramatically.
Another troubling fact is that Audi, with all its developments, went backwards in Baku. That’s something that should be worrying for it.
However, unlike Alpine it is Audi's first race with this new aerodynamic package, so perhaps the team wasn't able to get the best out of it in one weekend despite the belief within the team being that it was working well.
Yes, these assumptions are all based on just one race compared to the season average, but Baku — the windy city — is similar to Monza: PU-dependent, but because of those windy conditions in qualifying aerodynamic robustness over the complete car’s surfaces is critical to laptime.
For Williams, this is a step that at least means it can challenge for points again even though the race wasn't straightforward, with Alex Albon crashing out and Sainz having to fight his way back from as low as 18th place. And as Albon warned, "even without the upgrade this type of circuit would have favoured us".
This means it won't be until we’ve seen the improved Williams FW48 over a wider range of tracks that we will know if it can be a regular Q3 threat.
The Race ·
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