Williams Racing has showcased its 2022 F1 car in live action as it becomes the second team to hit the track at Silverstone circuit.
Following its online livery launch, Williams has revealed its 2022 machine – the FW44 – in live action from its Silverstone shakedown. The British outfit became the third F1 team to run the new car on track after Aston Martin and Alfa Romeo.
Both Alexander Albon and Nicholas Latifi got few laps on a damp circuit as together they completed a total of mandated 100 km. Williams only shared couple of photos of the Canadian which showcased some different designs than the other cars.
The first noticeable item was a bulging nose which hasn’t been seen on any of the cars thus far. The sidepod could be ascertained in both the shots, whereas one of it showed a tight bodywork on engine cover side above the sidepod.
It certainly didn’t match the Aston Martin’s sidepod with the cooling vents. “I’m super excited for testing in Barcelona, to get back behind the wheel, push and see what the car can do,” said Latifi after his first run.
“Pre-season always feels like quite a long time, but it’s been really busy and there’s been a nice build-up at the factory with lots of hard work from everyone. The new regulations should allow for much better racing so I’m excited for the challenge and we will aim to gather some good data from testing, to take us into the first few races.”
His teammate Albon added: “It’s really exciting to get behind the wheel of the FW44 today; it’s always a big moment when you get in the car for the first time. The upcoming Barcelona track session will be about making sure we’re efficient with our time to best ensure we have a competitive package heading into the season.
“We don’t have many days before our first race and so we quickly need to understand which areas of the car are strong and where we need to make improvements. I’m sure it will be a little bit of a learning curve as we all try to learn how to get the most out of the new regulations, but the objectives and the way that we focus on this car is very much the same as in previous years. Ultimately, we’re all still trying to get a racing car around a track as quickly as possible.”
Talking about the changes on the car, Williams chief Jost Capito also confirmed the removal of Ayrton Senna’s ‘S’ logo from FW44. The German feels it is time to move on from using it as they have given a special space to the Brazilian in the refurbished museum.
While acknowledging that they did not consult the family before removing it, Capito noted that they are working to market the work done by Senna Foundation. “The decision was that we want to move on in the future,” he said to written media including Motorsport Network, F1, Crash, The Race, Racefans and more.
“We have a new era, we have a new car. And we refurbished also our museum, and where we have a special area to celebrate Ayrton. I think we had to look now in the future and not showing the drivers the ‘S’ all the time they get in the car and being reminded of what happened. Now it’s time for the team to move on and be very honourable to Senna and having a very dedicated space in the museum and honour him there.
“We didn’t have a consultation with the family but we are working with the foundation and we will increase our effort with the foundation and work on how we can to support the Senna foundation more. I think more people benefit from this. If we can help people, especially through the foundation, I think that’s a very good programme. But it has to be still finally defined,” summed up Capito.
Big smiles today 😁 Felt amazing to get a taster for the season to come! A lot of hours put into this car and isn’t she a looker 😍 lets do this 💪😤 @WilliamsRacing pic.twitter.com/Qg9ZYNQeIi
— Alex Albon (@alex_albon) February 15, 2022
While Williams had its shakedown at Silverstone, Alfa Romeo chose to shake down their car at Fiorano in the morning hours where they were greeted by rain too. The C42 was driven by Valtteri Bottas, with Guanyu Zhou, Frederic Vasseur and Jan Monchaux in attendance.
There were multiple spy shots available on social media of the car in camouflage livery. They are to use a test livery in Barcelona with the launch slated to be on February 27 which is after the first test. It is expected for them to have a filming run on the same day at Barcelona, with Williams to run a day before at the same venue.
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