Cooling problem is costing Williams eight-tenths of a second per lap

Williams is in all kinds of trouble, and Auto Motor und Sport's research shows that the team is losing eight-tenths of a second with their faulty cooling system that they tried to copy from Mercedes.

Tough, tough times for Williams. To say that they're not meeting expectations this season is putting it lightly, as the British team have looked the slowest team on the grid on several occasions already, and we're only three races into the season. Auto Motor und Sport reveals that their complete lack of grip on the car is largely due to their problem with cooling.

Paddy Lowe has tried to copy said cooling system from Lowe's old employer, Mercedes, the German outlet says. The system is very complicated though and proved to complex for the British team to perfect. The combination of a heat exchanger in the chassis with a mix of oil- and water coolers might be lighter than the previous design Williams used, but finding the right balance in the temperatures for all individual components proved to be a problem.

The one part needs more cooling than the other. That's where things go wrong for Williams. The cooling is not balanced well, causing some components to overheat. Because of that, the design has to be adjusted to fit all kinds of holes and air intakes for cooling, which disturbs the aerodynamics of the chassis.

Especially downforce, on the rear-end of the FW41 specifically. On the warm track of Bahrain, Williams dangled at the bottom of the field, but things were looking better on the cooler track of Shanghai. For the moment, the lower the temperatures, the better. Auto Motor und Sport was told by a Williams-engineer that the moment they solve the cooling problem, they'll be eight-tenths of a second quicker. If they solve it, that is.