Revealed: Williams FW41

[Paul Jeffrey]

Williams Martini Racing have revealed the new for 2018 FW41 to the world, the car the British team hope to return the once great team to Grand Prix success in the year ahead.

Due to be driven by Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin during the 2018 Formula One season, the new FW41 will be the first Williams car to benefit from the influence of new Chief Technical Officer Paddy Lowe and Head of Aerodynamics Dirk de Beer, both of whom joined the multiple championship winning outfit at the beginning of 2017 with the aim of retuning the team back to the head of the Formula One pack.

The new car, dubbed FW41, will once again be powered by the category leading Mercedes engine and Lowe thinks 2018 could be a good opportunity for the British privateer to halt the gradual downward spiral of recent seasons:

“It is very exciting to be giving everyone the first look at the FW41. It is the product of some great teamwork across the various functions in the organisation including aerodynamics design, vehicle dynamics, race engineering and systems engineering. The car has many new features, most of which are not all that obvious, but externally the team has pursued a very different aerodynamic concept which has allowed us some significant progress in aerodynamic performance. All Formula One cars are an evolution of what has gone before to some extent, but the FW41 does involve a number of departures from the directions that have been pursued in the past. Overall, the philosophy we are starting to see emerge is a new approach to the collaboration between aerodynamics and design to achieve the optimum working result.

Aerodynamics, structure and weight are the three major trades to be made in designing a Formula One car, and all the work, alongside a number of radical changes to the car’s packaging to incorporate further developments from Mercedes HPP, have led us to the FW41 being revealed today. We hope that this car will make progress in the performance rankings relative to 2017. The whole technical team is also feeling very positive about our two talented young race drivers with the combination of Lance and Sergey, alongside the contribution of Robert as our reserve and development driver.” ​

As well as revealing the brand new FW41, Williams also confirmed new recruit Robert Kubica will be treated to three FP3 outings for the team in the season ahead, alongside his simulator commitments and time behind the wheel both in pre-season and in-season testing for the Grove team:

"I’m back in Formula One in a different role to when I was racing in 2011, but I’m back permanently in the F1 paddock, so I’m looking forward to it" Said Kubica, "It will be interesting to go back to some of the places I have been before, some of them providing different emotions from different moments in my life. Sometimes it can be quite difficult watching others racing, but I have a different role this year. It's sure to be a tough season with a lot of races and things to do. I have to be on top of the work I have to do for the team. So, let’s get started!”​

Williams are the first team to officially launch their 2018 challenger, however the British squad aren't quite the first team to take the covers off a new car, having been beaten to the punch by the American Haas team who revealed virtual renders of their new machine earlier this week...


Formula One car launch dates:

February 14th - Haas Ferrari
February 15th - Williams Mercedes

February 19th - Red Bull Tag Heuer
February 20th - Renault
February 20th - Alfa Romeo Sauber Ferrari​

February 22nd - AMG Mercedes
February 22nd - Ferrari
February 23rd - McLaren Renault
February 25th - Toro Rosso Honda

TBC - Force India Mercedes

If you like your motorsport fast and open wheeled, check out the Formula One sub forum and get yourself in on the discussion today!

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Do you like the look of the new Williams? Can this be the car to take Williams back into the podium fight? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[LeSunTzu]

I hope it's fast, because it does not look that good

 

[bsmooth]

Its that ring, it just ruins the look of the cars. I'm all for more safety, but couldn't they come up with something better than that ?

 

[davewilliams000]

Its that ring, it just ruins the look of the cars. I'm all for more safety, but couldn't they come up with something better than that ?

Yep it's called an aeroscreen... see indycar lol. They went with the halo as aeroscreen wasn't ready, and they got the 2nd highest complainer on the grid to test it - Vettel (1st Grosjean obviously, Alonso doesn't count as he had good reason to moan about his engine the last 3 years).

Having said that, the Williams in particular looks awful (putting it mildly!) not just due to the halo (which would probably look better in black), but the whole colour scheme of the car looks wrong - why have so much black on the car along the sides so high up... it messes with the lines when you look at it and consequently gives you eye strain!

Still, all will be forgiven if it's fast! (I am not holding out too much hope though)

 

[ears]

I think ... I ... ugh .. the ... halo. It's not that ugly.

 

[Deleted member 6919]

Car looks good even abit mean, and it's good to see a Halo that's been colour matched, but to be honest you could paint it with transparent paint and you still be able to see it and it would still be ugly.

 

[Mr Latte]

Pleasantly surprised....

Halo will take time to get used to but it's not as bad when we had those terrible looking high noses on the cars. What I do like is the nice and tidier rear sections we have again this year.

Goes well with the chunky tyres and low rear wing.

 

[paracletus]

Again as expected. It's ok.
I wonder how the alfa-sauber and the torro-rosso will look. Interesting.

 

[Neilski]

Wow, they seriously went with a gloss-white halo? Cos who wouldn't want that in front of their nose while driving at 200mph.
I think the drivers will quickly bin that and get a matt-black finish instead...

 

[Joseph Wright]

*Turns on screen*
*See's 2018 F1 Car*
*Throws screen out window*

 

[MrCharme]

The Halo looks way better than expected on this car. But Williams should get a bit more creative...

 

[boomn]

Having said that, the Williams in particular looks awful (putting it mildly!) not just due to the halo (which would probably look better in black), but the whole colour scheme of the car looks wrong - why have so much black on the car along the sides so high up... it messes with the lines when you look at it and consequently gives you eye strain!

I think their paint scheme cleverly helps minimize and integrate the look of the halo. The white halo helps it blend in a bit with the top of the car, but if the car was white all the way down the side in that area then it would make the halo look tall on top of the car. So they used black on the sides to make a lot of the height of the car "disappear" in the area below the halo. Then the white curves down in parallel with the back half of the halo to integrate the halo shape into the car better.

 

[Qazdar Karim]

Nothing looks good these days anyway ...

 

[Benutzername]

Its that ring, it just ruins the look of the cars. I'm all for more safety, but couldn't they come up with something better than that ?

TBH. I dont like the look.

But the more i think about it...
Remember when the Caterham team showed their Platypus nose? I was more shocked back then.

At the end of the year it was still not beautiful, but not too bad either.

Same for the phallus nose a few years later. Gosh are they ugly.

Even now the Williams has a small ugly stubble at the front and nobody says a word about it.


Id prefer to have it gone, but its not a deal breaker.
The halo still has a safety function.

 

[davewilliams000]

I think their paint scheme cleverly helps minimize and integrate the look of the halo. The white halo helps it blend in a bit with the top of the car, but if the car was white all the way down the side in that area then it would make the halo look tall on top of the car. So they used black on the sides to make a lot of the height of the car "disappear" in the area below the halo. Then the white curves down in parallel with the back half of the halo to integrate the halo shape into the car better.

Obviously just my opinion but this looked much better to me...

That's the 2016 car but also didn't have the shark fin so similar in some ways.

 

[gamer19]

Livery isn't that bothers me somehow... this car look like a less aerodynamically efficient than Haas one.
Maybe it's just an optical illusion.

 

[Leonardo Chaves]

The Halo is very ugly, no surprises here.

The livery could use some work after so many years of Martini, change the white for a metalic silver or even blue (back in the day Martini was just the stripes, they would combine it with red, green, blue whatever was the main color of the team).

 

[Patrik Marek]

I would very much rather see canopy ,
I don't think halo would save you from hitting a crane at speed, and canopy would protect form more angles then halo will

 

[Terry Rock]

The Halo is just plain stupid as it stands right now.
What the heck is the point, without some form of barrier to keep flying objects from going through the openings and crushing the driver's skull.
If it had some type of panel to close those massive openings, I could go along with the design.
As it stands right now, it does little to protect against debris...except maybe a wheel / tire.
It's been stated many, many times, that had the wishbone which pierced Senna's helmet been deflected 4-6 inches higher, he'd have walked back to the pits uninjured.
This Halo with little to no deflection capability (unless you get 'lucky'on the day and have an object strike part of the main structure) would have done absolutely nothing to protect him.
As to the car, I thought last year's Williams looked much, much better.
I'm not a fan of the extra Black paint in the livery.
It doesn't show off the lines of the car.

 

[Boby Kim]

The halo makes F1 ridiculous...