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Williams took small steps in big ways. Like Red Bull in 2023, it is from New York, the team led by James Vowles unveiled its car for the 2024 Formula 1 season. The team was live from the Puma Flagship Store, a boutique of the sports brand German which will equip the drivers all season as it does in particular with Ferrari.
Under the eyes of the lucky people present on site, James Vowles, Alexander Albon and Logan Sargeant unveiled the new Williams which will take to the track from pre-season testing in Bahrain from February 21 to 23.
History made. History in the making.
Introducing the FW46 livery 💙 pic.twitter.com/hH1SPF3RPY
— Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) February 5, 2024
🚨 OFFICIAL!
Williams UNVEILS its FW46 for the 2024 season #F1 ! 💙🤍
You like ? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/P8X6nDgR7e
— Off Track (@OffTrack_FR) February 5, 2024
In terms of design, few changes on the FW46 compared to its predecessor. Blue remains the dominant color with navy blue on the majority of the car. Black covers the halo, the fins and the lower part of the sidepods. These are a lighter blue and feature the team’s new sponsor, Komatsu.
Note that as in 2023, the fireplace is covered with the design of Duracell batteries, which blends in remarkably well with the whole. Finally, the Gulf logo is still there and possibly announces new special liveries throughout the season as was the case last year.
The drivers will wear an almost entirely white suit created by Puma.
Albon and Sargeant play their careers in 2024
The year 2024 is important in defining Williams’ medium-term future. The Grove team took a real step forward in 2023 by taking 7th place in the manufacturers’ standings. Carried by an excellent Alexander Albon, Williams was able to regularly fight for points.
Logan Sargeant had a complicated rookie season, marked by numerous errors and great difficulty keeping up with his teammate’s pace in races or qualifying. The American still scored his first point during the United States GP in Austin and earned the right to compete for a second season.
But just like Albon, Sargeant is gambling on his future in 2024. The Fort Lauderdale native must increase his pace to convince his team to extend him or another team to recruit him. Especially since behind him, the young guns from the Williams Academy are waiting for their chances, notably Zak O’Sullivan and Franco Colapinto who will discover F2 after a good year in F3.
Alex Albon is in a completely different situation. The Thai enjoys a very good popularity rating in the paddock, thanks to the miracles he works at the wheel of his modest Williams. The former Red Bull driver must not let the bellows fall and on the contrary must deliver the final blow which will convince a top team to sign him for 2025.
At the end of his contract next December, the No. 23 may interest Mercedes, now looking for a successor to Lewis Hamilton, but also Red Bull, his former team. Sergio Perez is undoubtedly living his last months in the single-seater bearing the winged bull, and Albon ticks almost all the boxes of the ideal successor.
Williams wants to continue his reconstruction
Despite a complicated first pass in 2020 where Max Verstappen crushed him, the 27-year-old driver has grown and ensures he is ready to fight to win a championship. Red Bull, however, is quite cautious when it comes to bringing back old flops from home. Pierre Gasly, although brilliant with AlphaTauri for three years, hoped in vain before resolving to leave the Red Bull fold, due to lack of opportunity to return to the parent team.
But before thinking about the future, Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant must first help Williams continue the positive momentum started at the start of 2023. With a car better born than in 2022, the Grove team was able to fight for positions interesting, even if too many gaps were still visible.
The arrival of James Vowles, unanimously welcomed internally, made it possible to put certain things right in a team that was sometimes too disorganized. It is now from the point of view of pure performance that the former Mercedes chief strategist will be judged.
The 2024 single-seater is the first for which he has been able to manage the design almost from A to Z, and the results must follow. From now on, only the track will tell if Williams has indeed managed to get closer to the midfield or if we will still have to look behind to hope not to sink once again.
And bref
The British team is the third to reveal the livery of its single-seater for 2024. It was from a Puma store in New York that James Vowles and drivers Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant revealed their new mount to the world.
2024-02-05 14:46:00
#Williams #unveils #livery #York
