Passed under the American flag since its acquisition by Dorilton Capital in 2020, Williams chose the store of its official equipment supplier, the Puma Flagship Store located on the famous 5th Avenue in New York, to present the car with which it will compete in Formula 1 in 2024 Is this the presentation of the car that we will see in Bahrain from February 21? Or is it just a glimpse of the new decoration presented on a demo car? We will have to wait a few more days to find out.
Aware of the invaluable heritage of the past, the team remained in fairly usual tones, with a dress composed of several shades of navy blue, Williams’ historic color. A red and white stripe, reflecting the team’s position as a British icon and inspired by legendary cars such as the 1985 FW10 driven by Nigel Mansell and Keke Rosberg or the 1997 championship-winning FW19 with Jacques Villeneuve, has been integrated.
A Williams livery between past and future
If we still find the main sponsors from last year, in this case Duracell and Myprotein, the addition of the Japanese company Komatsu, one of the main manufacturers of heavy equipment for construction, for operation mining, forestry and industry, is immediately evident at the pontoon level, with considerable space given to this partnership.
More generally, the 2024 livery is intended to be a contemporary tribute to the heritage of Williams Racing, which as a reminder includes nine constructors’ world championships, seven drivers’ championships and even 114 race victories. It will adorn the FW46, following the FW naming tradition introduced by the team’s legendary founder, Sir Frank Williams. The real novelty comes from the jumpsuits, pretty, but all white!
Note that the FW46, which is the first car fully developed under the direction of James Vowles, team principal who joined from Mercedes in 2023, will make its track debut during a pre-season promotional filming day at Bahrain on February 20, just before the official pre-season tests which will begin on February 21.
While Williams stopped the development of its 2023 single-seater last year at the Canadian Grand Prix, the launch of the new F1 from the Grove team was particularly anticipated internally. “The FW46 has been the team’s priority for many months and everyone at Grove has put a huge effort into getting our car ready for this year.”explained team principal James Vowles.
“As we look to build on our momentum from last season, we have a driver duo in Alex (Albon) and Logan (Sargeant) who can regularly challenge for points while helping us drive our development for the future. Since joining Williams Racing a year ago, I have seen this team come together to overcome a number of challenges and claim seventh place in the Constructors’ Championship, which meant a lot to everyone involved . We also showed the world that we are now building the foundations to move forward.”
In 2023, Williams effectively made its recovery by securing an unexpected 7th place in the Constructors’ Championship. Reinvigorated by the arrival of James Vowles, the former great strategist of the Mercedes team, the Grove team has moved forward after several years of struggle. The presence in his ranks of Alexander Albon made a huge difference, the Thai having managed to achieve several excellent results (7th in Canada and Italy). Logan Sargeant had a complicated first year, but his progress allowed him to become the first American to score in F1 in more than 30 years.
However, James Vowles’ ambitions for Williams are not focused on 2024. They are more long-term, given the work that remains to be done internally to transform infrastructure, mentalities and state of mind. The coming season must therefore be that of confirmation, and of the defense of a 7th place which currently sounds like a glass ceiling, while teams having finished behind in the ranking in 2023 should regain momentum. beast, like Visa Cash App.
Williams vise 2026
To achieve this, James Vowles wants to rely on stability within his driver duo composed of Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant, but is counting above all on the arrival of his new technical director Pat Fry from Alpine to take Williams a step further in terms of the design of its single-seaters, with the expectation of the first concrete results from 2026, when the regulations change.
In the meantime, there will still be two seasons to succeed, and the objective for 2024 will be to continue progress in order to convince Alexander Albon, in particular, to re-engage with the team, he whose contract will end at the end of the year. “After a very positive year, we hope to continue our progress, working hard to make big leaps forward in terms of performance”indicated the Thai.
Difficult to analyze anything on a technical level, the most decisive phase of the concepts appearing under these ground effect single-seaters. Let us point out, however, that the pontoons are quite similar to last year, with a ramp (or downwash) solution like Red Bull.
“We’ve asked a lot of the team and the factory to get this car where it needs to be, and we’ve also changed the philosophy of the car slightly, so I’m interested to see if we can improve some of the characteristics that ‘she has historically had, continues Albon. “It will require an adjustment in driving style, but I’m sure it will be a change for the better.” First answers in a few days!
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2024-02-05 14:44:00
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