Williams shares photos/video from Silverstone shakedown

Williams Racing shares more photos and video from the shakedown of its F1 2025 machinery – the FW47 – at Silverstone.

After McLaren carried out its launch on Thursday at Silverstone, Williams followed it up with an extensive programme for the F1 fans. They held a proper launch of the FW47 at the circuit, which included a shakedown cum filming run ahead of livery launch.

Like McLaren, they ran a camo livery considering the group livery launch scheduled for February 18 at O2 arena in London. While there will be updates whether in Bahrain pre-season test or the first round in Australia, the team had their base car ready.

Carlos Sainz got the first chance to drive the FW47 – brief part of which was shown live co-inciding with the launch event. He carried on to undertake more laps after the live was closed, with Alexander Albon then taking over in the afternoon to complete the day.

“The first run of the FW47 is the result of tens of thousands of hours of work and a moment of immense pride that symbolises the progress we are making at Atlassian Williams Racing,” said James Vowles. “We rolled out the car at the precise moment we said we would, on live television, with a formidable new driver line-up and a fantastic new title partner in Atlassian. There is a lot to look forward to in 2025 and I can’t wait to go racing next month.”

Chief engineer Dave Robson noted: “Today we launched the FW47 at Silverstone and had the opportunity to shakedown the new car and to check that the systems are behaving as intended. Carlos and Alex shared the driving through the day, and between them were able to complete the permitted 200km without issue.

“The car ran well and, having completed a few careful laps to check that everything was working correctly, we were able to push the car hard and confirm that there were no major problems. Inevitably, we found a few very minor issues, but these will be quickly resolved before we arrive in Bahrain, and they didn’t affect the running today.

“In the cold conditions, and using the Pirelli promotional tyres, it is impossible to assess the performance of the FW47, however, the telemetry and driver feedback suggests that the basic characteristics of the car are very close to expectation and there are no immediate handling concerns.

“We now have a few days to use the experience from today to finalise our testing plan for Bahrain. Now that we are confident that the car will run well, we are in a great position to maximise our time in Bahrain and to ensure that we arrive in Melbourne ready to start the 2025 season strongly.”

On the driver side, Sainz said: “The first 100 kilometres in the FW47 are done and it has been a smooth day. We managed to complete all the run plan without any issues, and I got my first proper feeling for the car. It was a bold statement from Williams to show the first lap of this new car to our partners, the media, and our fans, and it went very well. Good job to everyone back at Grove – now we’re ready for the season to start.”

And Albon added: “I’m really happy. Normally this weather makes the car feel good, and it did today. We won’t know for sure what the car is like until Bahrain, but the car was reliable, and we put on a great show for our partners and fans, so I hope everyone enjoyed that. Roll on Bahrain!”

Here’s some videos: https://x.com/WilliamsRacing/status/1890358998085370142

https://x.com/WilliamsRacing/status/1890446556509221272

Here’s Williams launching 2025 car

Here’s getting title sponsor

Here’s naming 2025 ambassadors

Here’s Barcelona TPC run

Here’s listing F1 driver academy drivers

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