Williams FW45

The Williams FW45 is a Formula One racing car designed and constructed by Williams to compete in the 2023 Formula One World Championship. The car was driven by Logan Sargeant and Alexander Albon in their first and second years with the team respectively.

The FW45 is among the first Mercedes-AMG powered F1 car to utilize non Petronas-branded fuel and lubricants since 2016 along with the Aston Martin AMR23.

The FW45 was first revealed on 6 February 2023.

Albon qualified 15th for the season opener at Bahrain with Sargeant qualifying 16th. Sargeant was knocked out in Q1 due to setting his lap time later than Lando Norris despite both drivers setting the same time. Sargeant moved up 4 places at the start into 12th place where he would finish the race whilst Albon went on a brilliant strategy to finish 10th, holding off AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda to score the team's first point of the season meaning the team left Bahrain 6th in the constructors' championship with 1 point.

Sargeant failed to set a time in qualifying in Jeddah due to having his first lap deleted, spinning on his second and being forced to stop with mechanical problems on his third but he was given permission to race by the stewards. Albon qualified 17th for the race. Albon was forced to retire on lap 28 due to brake failure whilst Sargeant tried to fight for points but his tyres went off and he slipped back to 16th at the flag. Williams left Jeddah 9th in the championship level with Haas but behind on countback.

Albon qualified an impressive 8th for the Australian Grand Prix with Sargeant qualifying 18th. Albon was running in 6th place early on in the race but had a heavy crash on lap 7 which bought out the red flag. Sargeant ran out of the points for most of the race but another late red flag gave him a chance for points, however at the restart Sargeant crashed into the back of Nyck de Vries at turn 1 taking both himself and the AlphaTauri driver out of the race with Sargeant lucky not to receive a penalty for the collision. Due to Nico Hülkenberg finishing 7th and Yuki Tsunoda finishing 10th, Williams slipped to 10th and last in the constructors' championship, level with AlphaTauri but behind on countback and 6 points behind Haas.

Albon qualified 13th for the first sprint race of the season in Baku with Sargeant qualifying 15th. For the first ever sprint qualifying session Sargeant made it into SQ2 but crashed heavily in SQ1 meaning he could only start a minimum of 15th on the grid whilst Albon qualified a brilliant 7th. The team later withdraw Sargeant from the sprint as his car was too damaged to be repaired in time for the shorter race. Albon fought for points in the sprint slipped back to 9th place at the flag. Albon finished the main race 12th with Sargeant finishing 16th. But due to Yuki Tsunoda scoring another point, Williams fell 1 point behind the Italian team meaning they were now right at the bottom of the constructors' championship in 10th.

Albon qualified 11th for the Miami Grand Prix with Sargeant qualifying 20th and last for the first of his three home Grands Prix. Albon finished the race 14th with Sargeant finishing 20th and last, one lap down. Albon qualified 13th for the Monaco Grand Prix with Sargeant qualifying 16th. Sargeant was hit by Nico Hülkenberg on lap 1 at Mirabeau which damaged his car. This ended his chance for points meaning he finished 18th and last of the runners, 2 laps down. Albon finished 14th, one lap down.