Williams only gave a fleeting glimpse of its new car for 2018 yesterday but it is a clear departure from its previous model in several clear respects.
Take a closer look at how the team’s 2018 and 2017 cars compare.
Use the slider below to transition between images of Williams’s new FW41 and last year’s FW40. Note some images may have been altered for ease of comparison and should not be used as a reference for measurements.
Side view
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As was indicated when Williams first tested the Halo in 2016 it has departed from the practice of most teams by painting it white to match the rest of its livery. But much less of the car has white paint on it for last year, a hint at the extent of the changes which have gone on.
The dark paint and gloomy press photographs issued by the team (which have been brightened here) are all intended to disguise the extent of development which has gone on, particularly around the barge board area. “It’s the biggest area of opportunity still not fully exploited with these new regulations,” said the team’s chief technical officer Paddy Lowe when the car was revealed yesterday.
Sidepods
Williams kept it very simple with the bargeboard on last year’s car. For 2018 they appear to have followed Ferrari’s lead by pushing the sidepods further back and adding larger wings and flow conditioners in front of it, all painted black to disguise their exact form.
Front view
Expect to see revisions coming for the front wing which at present is similar to the one raced last year. The thumb tip nose is also unchanged.
Three-quarter view
Last year Williams added both upper and lower T-wings to its car during testings. With the shark fin now ban the upper T-wing is gone but the lower element, which they call a ‘gearbox wing’ remains.
Williams has Mercedes power units for the fifth year running. The new technical team has produced a car which is a clear departure from its predecessors, and they will be eager to halt a three-year slide in their on-track performance.
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Chaitanya
16th February 2018, 15:51
Williams have certainly gone all out with sidepod area.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
16th February 2018, 21:11
Everyone’s exploiting the SH 70’s side impact trick, I think even Merc shall copy that.
[TR]
16th February 2018, 16:07
I feel like they may have missed on the best opportunity of any team to paint the halo in an interesting way.
I imagine the stripes wrapping around the halo from the back, joining at the centre in the front, and then dropping down and splitting up at the bottom of the column.
ECWDanSelby (@ecwdanselby)
16th February 2018, 17:02
You’re absolutely right – a red/blue striped halo could have actually worked amazingly well!
Graham (@guitargraham)
16th February 2018, 16:09
Dirk De Beer’s 2017 Ferrari aero work is pretty clear on the 2018 Williams. his hiring at the beginning of last season was just as important for Williams as getting Paddy back
Iosif (@afonic)
16th February 2018, 16:30
I am not sure how much of 2017 Ferrari is Dirk De Beer’s work. He left pretty early, summer 2016 I believe.
ECWDanSelby (@ecwdanselby)
16th February 2018, 17:04
“The new technical team has produced a car which is a clear temperature from its predecessors, and they will be eager to halt a three-year slide in their on-track performance.”
I assume this is meant to be ‘departure’?
@HoHum (@hohum)
16th February 2018, 21:54
I assume same but can’t help wondering if it (and others) came about by auto correction or maybe a dictation program.
Hemz Shaw (@hemzshaw)
17th February 2018, 1:33
came in here to say the exact same thing.
@keithcollantine can confirm.
It should have been departure, I believe.
Baron (@baron)
16th February 2018, 17:22
I think he means it’s pretty hot stuff @ecwdanselby haha. Well I am quite excited at some of the (compared with recent Williams designs) changes in this year’s car. I’m no expert but it looks quite ‘racy’ and I’m not at all bothered by the halo. However I fully accept that we are now in an era where style wins over substance almost 100% of the time so I can quite understand why many people of a certain age would get acid reflux just looking at it (halo). If it’s fast and competitive though, who wil care? To help ease the pain that many art & design students might feel looking at it, have you noticed it looks as if the Gladiator is coming at you in the head on shots? How cool is that?
juan fanger (@juan-fanger)
16th February 2018, 21:55
Gladiator or Francesco Bernoulli?
72defender (@72defender)
16th February 2018, 18:17
Is it me or is the wheelbase slightly longer?
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
16th February 2018, 21:13
I think so, ideally that’s what you want, as long as you can keep below the weight limit.
@HoHum (@hohum)
16th February 2018, 21:59
But once upon a time everybody wanted shorter wheelbases for quicker turning, so much so that the drivers feet were ahead of the front wheels.
Hemz Shaw (@hemzshaw)
17th February 2018, 1:35
above the weight limit.
The minimum weight permissible is 728 kg (1,605 lb) including the driver but not fuel. Cars are weighed with dry-weather tyres fitted. Prior to the 2014 F1 season, cars often weighed in under this limit so teams added ballast in order to add weight to the car. The advantage of using ballast is that it can be placed anywhere in the car to provide ideal weight distribution. This can help lower the car’s centre of gravity to improve stability and also allows the team to fine-tune the weight distribution of the car to suit individual circuits.
From Wikipedia
Gabriel (@rethla)
17th February 2018, 3:00
They want to be below the weight limit as much as possible so they can distribute the ballast at their will. Being near or above the weight limit is a failure.
TEDBELL
16th February 2018, 18:20
Sure looks like the “new” 2018 chassis is very same chassis as the 2017 but with new bits hung from it. Sure the Shark fin is now a Shark nub and the the front wing is made from 74 parts and pieces instead of last seasons 52. And the bargeboard is much now more complicated.
Visualize the arched blackened area and go back n forth between 2017 and 2018 side view of both chassis and its clear its the very same chassis. Look carefully, looks identicle.
When did they outlaw the sharkfin?
I heard the T wings were gone but the Williams Shark Nub still looks good with the number inside the Martini Red area.
In general the mostly white 2017 Williams still looks better than the 2018 car with so much black in the arched areas between wheels.
The FW41 rates a 5 on a scale of 10 being perfect.
Miane
16th February 2018, 18:44
They’re not changing from F1 to another category, if you look carefully all teams have the same chassis because they’re all under the same rules. The only things that changes between them are “bits hunging”.
bosyber (@bosyber)
16th February 2018, 21:18
With the side deflectors being lowered to under the sidepod cooling openings (as on the 2017 Ferrari), it certainly has to be a new chassis @TEDBELL! Also, the nose has a more abrupt kink, rather than smoothly bending down as before, so again, different chassis.
@HoHum (@hohum)
16th February 2018, 22:04
@bosyber, but where does the crash-tub end and the chassis begin ? It’s all a bit open to interpretation.
Jere (@jerejj)
16th February 2018, 19:08
FW41’s front-end is or at least looks flatter than its predecessor’s.
David
16th February 2018, 20:29
Top Picture…I am super duper pleased to see they sorted their printing issue with backward letters for the 2018 season.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
17th February 2018, 19:48
Can’t beat a cool glass of Initram.
Homerlovesbeer (@homerlovesbeer)
17th February 2018, 0:48
Wow the back to back images really emphasise how bad the halo looks.
Eww.
Hemz Shaw (@hemzshaw)
17th February 2018, 1:38
@homerlovesbeer I think we should wait for the cars to go racing at Melbourne before making that comment. The walrus nose cones years ago did not look too distracting while racing, though in pictures, they did. Grossly so.
Electrolite
17th February 2018, 3:38
I can’t remember a bigger visible change in recent times from a teams car from one year to the next within stable regulations. Seems this is the first Williams in which Paddy Lowe has had a massive influence. Really intrigued to see how it performs.
Re-Play- (@re-play)
17th February 2018, 15:40
whats the wheelbase on this car?
Dutchguy (@justarandomdutchguy)
28th December 2018, 20:48
This thing still looks pretty good, yet it turned out to be a utter dog….