Williams design attracting interest

The biggest buzz surrounding the launch of the Williams FW26 earlier this week was the new design of the nose cone, and Renault director of engineering Pat Symonds thinks more teams will be trying it out. The FW26 features a shortened nose and extended twin suspension mounts for the front wing, which gives it a very distinctive look.

Symonds will take a closer look at the design but although it could be used on other cars, it could not be incorporated without looking at the overall effects. "The Williams appears interesting and logical," he said. "We'll look at it in the wind tunnel soon and other teams will be trying it as well, I'm sure."

"We could incorporate the idea into our 2004 car. But really you can't look at one part in isolation. You need to understand the whole concept otherwise you won't get very far."

Juan Pablo Montoya topped the times two days in a row at Jerez testing with the new car this week, over a second faster than other teams on track. However, apart from McLaren, none of the other 2004 cars have showed their pace yet, so its really too early to draw any conclusions.

Renault is also testing at Jerez this week and will launch the R24 in Sicily at the end of this month (January 29th). Sauber is the next team to unveil its new car, on Monday (January 12th) in Salzburg, followed by Toyota, in Cologne, on January 17th.

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments