Williams hoping to rise back to glory
After a disheartening 2010 campaign, Williams are looking forward to a very exiting season ahead. The team’s co-founder and Engineering Director, Patrick Head hopes to see the team do very well next year with its newly designed FW33.
While talking to the media earlier this week, Head declared that the way the next season’s car is being developed gives him a lot of hope for rising back to the lost glory of Williams. He revealed that the car is close to its completion stage and only requires
some final tweaks. When asked about its launch, he assured that the team will run their new package in the first pre-season test, which will be held in Valencia on February 1st.
He explained saying, "Most of the development work is complete. Now we are designing the outer elements. The chassis, suspension and transmission have already been developed for months now."
The last two seasons have been very abortive for the AT & T sponsored team. In 2009, it was one of the pioneer teams to develop the innovative double diffuser. However, the invention never served the team radiantly as the team was not seen anywhere above
7th place in the annual constructors’ standing. The 2010 season saw another disappointing campaign by the team. Despite of striving hard all through the year, the Williams driver and Formula One veteran, Rubens Barrichello was not able to finish
anywhere better than 10th place in the drivers’ standing with a meagre score of 47 points. The driver, last year competed in his 300thGrand Prix, the highest number of races for any Formula One driver ever. However, an incompetent car
halted him from embracing the podium all through the year. On the other hand, his teammate, Nico Hulkenberg, ended the season at 14th place with 22 points under his belt. With their collective 69 points, the team wrapped up the last season at 6th place
in the constructors’ standings having only a single point more than Force India, which took the 7th slot.
Now, the 65-year-old Head reckons that the next car is going to wash off all the despair of last two seasons. While describing its design he stated that the FW33 is far more ‘radical’ as compared to the early years’ cars.
He expressed his contentment and was pleased over the reaction of other team members, especially the team drivers, when they first saw the car. "Rubens Barrichello has already said that the car looks radical. I [also] think it is more adventurous than the
2010 vehicle. To qualify further up in the team hierarchy, it must be. We, and I think many of our loyal fans too, want to see Williams get involved again in the lead," Patrick said.
When asked about the changes in FIA regulations, he replied that all changes are never equally appreciated by everyone. He suggested that some changes delight one team while some are appreciated by the other. However, he insisted that introduction of the
adjustable front wing and the return of KERS makes him very excited. He also confirmed that the Williams Hybrid Power has designed a brilliant battery-powered KERS system for the next season, while the team has decided to discard the use of 2009’s flywheel
system.
He explained saying, "We will use an all-new KERS system which was developed by us and uses batteries to store energy. This has nothing to do with our flywheel version we have developed for 2009."
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