Five things we’ve learned from 2024 so far

Pre-season testing already seems like a long time ago as we prepare for our first long-haul flight of the year to Australia.

Williams Racing head into the third round of 2024 without any points, but that doesn't mean we've had a pointless opening two races.

Our understanding of our new car, the FW46, increases with every lap Alex and Logan complete, and we're continuing to learn from our experiences to propel us forward.

With our Middle Eastern adventures over until Qatar in December, here are five things we've learned from the season so far.

Unlike in prior years, we opted to have our shakedown and filming day in Bahrain just before testing, allowing us to develop the first iteration of our challenger later than usual.

That late on-track first appearance for the FW46 meant we didn't have the extra weeks of real-world data to finesse our adjustments for the first race.

Although that potentially hindered us in Bahrain, we have a foundation for the rest of 2024 that is far more powerful than in recent years.

Both our drivers were pleasantly surprised with how much later they can brake in the race, for example, and all development updates from here will continue from that already-high baseline.

The extent of our rethinking for 2024 even goes down to the all-important fifth wheel on the car — the steering wheel.

Most notably, rather than have an external display as we have previously raced with, the screen is now integrated into the wheel after much discussion with the drivers and engineers.

This all-new design debuted with some teething problems in Bahrain, with Logan's brake balance moving too much, but no issues in Saudi show how quickly we learn.

Albono's performance engineer, Luke Dardis, detailed the 2024 wheel in incredible detail, including the bespoke requests Alex and Logan wanted.

While we've built a reputation for being a slippery car at high speeds, our cornering ability wasn't quite as impressive.

That won't be the case for 2024, and Saudi Arabia's Turn 27 proved a perfect test for the FW46 to demonstrate our improved balance.

This final hairpin on the calendar's longest street circuit was a thorn in our side in previous years, where we struggled to get the car turning through it.

Not so this year, as we had a balanced car from the first lap of Free Practice 1, allowing us to focus on other areas and eventually rewarding us with our best Saudi Arabian finish in our history.

Teams always close up as we progress through any regulations, and we're in our third year of the ground-effect/turbo-hybrid rules.

While 2023 was already extremely tight, especially in single-lap pace, 2024 looks like we'll have the closest grid in the sport's history.

Without any obvious backmarkers, the midfield fight is between ourselves and another four teams where just a tenth per lap can make all the difference.

We know that some rounds will suit us better than others, and maximising our performance on those weekends will see us beat our rivals to score sizeable points.

Following on from that tight midfield point, we saw in Saudi Arabia that our package can earn a top-10 spot on merit rather than from plucky strategies or focusing on certain tracks.

Haas played the team game in Jeddah, with one driver strategically slowing cars down to allow their teammate to pit without losing position.

Alex's P11 classification came with damage to his car after Kevin Magnussen pushed him into the wall, showing how quick we can be even when we're not at full strength.

These opening two rounds give us a lot of hope that we'll still be right among the fight even when things don't go our way rather than falling to the back of the order — and battling in the top 10 when they do.