A week ago, the Williams team became official introduced their plans for 2023, but then did not show the new FW45 car itself, but only a show car in a new version of the livery with the logos of new sponsors. But today at Silverstone, the team is holding an initial run-in and shooting day, so they shared photos of the already real car, which will soon be sent for pre-season testing in Bahrain.
Gary Anderson, a former race car designer and now an expert for The Race, took a closer look at these photos before sharing his initial conclusions and assumptions.
I can only comment on what I see, but so far Williams has only released a handful of carefully selected images of the new car. Judging by these photos, the FW45 combines some features of last year’s Ferrari and Red Bull Racing cars – it seems that this is sort of a trend that can be seen across all teams to some degree.
However, this is just the exterior and I’m pretty sure other differences are hidden under the car’s body.
For example, in the photos of the Williams car you can see that a small element has appeared on the front of the underside that acts as a diffuser, although it was not yet clearly visible. But in principle, this can be a good way to increase the efficiency of the front corner of the buttocks. Of course, only if the legality of this element is confirmed and if it does not perform a purely decorative function.
At the rear of the car is a hole similar to a letterbox slot through which a stream of hot air comes out of the radiator. At the same time, it is interesting that there are no cooling system hatches on the body panels of the FW45 at all. At least not yet.
It seems Williams still prefers rods in the rear suspension and pushrods in the front. But to draw more detailed conclusions, it will be necessary to study more photos that will appear after the car’s run-in today at Silverstone.
My first impressions – for the start of the season, the car looks quite convincing, although now only the team knows whether the designers managed to complete the tasks set before them. The effectiveness of the chassis will depend on this, as Williams must certainly improve seriously after the failed 2022 season in order to regularly compete for positions in the middle of the pack.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
