Breaking news
Formula 1
Williams reveals its 2018 Formula 1 car
Williams has become the second Formula 1 team to reveal its 2018 car at an event in London.
Lawrence Barretto
Edited: Feb 15, 2018, 8:02 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Williams has become the second Formula 1 team to reveal its 2018 car at an event in London.
The FW41 is the first Williams chief technical officer Paddy Lowe and head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer have had influence on from the start as they only joined at the beginning of last year.
The Mercedes-powered design looks significantly different to its predecessor, as Williams followed through on its plan to change the team's aerodynamic philosophy.
"The car has many new features, most of which are not all that obvious, but externally the team has pursued a very different aerodynamic concept which has allowed us some significant progress in aerodynamic performance," said Lowe.
"All Formula 1 cars are an evolution of what has gone before to some extent, but the FW41 does involve a number of departures from the directions that have been pursued in the past.
"Overall, the philosophy we are starting to see emerge is a new approach to the collaboration between aerodynamics and design to achieve the optimum working result.
"Aerodynamics, structure and weight are the three major trades to be made in designing a Formula 1 car, and all the work, alongside a number of radical changes to the car's packaging to incorporate further developments from Mercedes HPP, have led us to the FW41 being revealed today.
"We hope that this car will make progress in the performance rankings relative to 2017."
Lance Stroll and rookie Sergey Sirotkin, who replaces Felipe Massa, will form the team's driver line-up, with Robert Kubica fulfilling the role of reserve and development driver.
Deputy team principal Claire Williams added: "I am thrilled to be back and launching our new car, for a new season, with a new, exciting driver line-up.
"For many months, the team have put a tremendous amount of effort into the FW41 and I'm eager to see both Lance and Sergey take to the track later this month."
Williams was a regular podium contender at the start of the V6 era and finished third in the constructors' championship in 2014 and 2015, but has since dropped down the order.
It finished fifth for second year in succession in 2017 with 83 points, 55 fewer than in 2016 and 104 points adrift of Force India in fourth.
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
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Verstappen dreading "very ugly" halo on 2018 F1 car
Next article Kubica to have three FP1 outings in 2018
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Lawrence Barretto
Sirotkin, Stroll to have two race engineers each
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sirotkin, Stroll to have two race engineers each
Hamilton "sacrifice" saved Mercedes an hour of testing
Formula 1
Formula 1
Hamilton "sacrifice" saved Mercedes an hour of testing
Kubica regrets being "too honest" about driving limitations
Formula 1
Formula 1
Kubica regrets being "too honest" about driving limitations
More from
Williams
Franco Colapinto, George Russell to sit out FP1 at F1 Mexico GP
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
Franco Colapinto, George Russell to sit out FP1 at F1 Mexico GP
Fernando Alonso blasts driving standards of bottom half of F1 grid
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
Fernando Alonso blasts driving standards of bottom half of F1 grid
Latest news
Jorge Martin declared fit to race in Malaysian GP after FP1
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Malaysian GP
1 h
Jorge Martin declared fit to race in Malaysian GP after FP1
Cetilar unveils blue Ferrari 499P ahead of Hypercar debut
Asian Le Mans
AsLM Asian Le Mans 3 h
Cetilar unveils blue Ferrari 499P ahead of Hypercar debut
2026 MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix – How to watch, session times & more
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Malaysian GP
4 h
2026 MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix – How to watch, session times & more
"Two steps forward, one step back" – Oscar Piastri explains the route out of McLaren's car woes
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
5 h
"Two steps forward, one step back" – Oscar Piastri explains the route out of McLaren's car woes
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe