Williams reveals their new car livery for the 2011 Formula 1 season – Formula 1 news
Williams have revealed a new livery for 2011 challenger FW33 in a ceremony held at team's UK F1 Conference Centre.
The ceremony was attended by the technical director Sam Michael and new rookie Pastor Maldonado whereas Ruben Barrichello missed the ceremony since he was attending his 14th wedding anniversary back at home.
This new livery will be used in the Barcelona testing as well as the entire season. The Cosworth powered machinery was used in the two testing sessions but with 2010 interim livery. The new paint job features blue and white design with a little bit
of red display.
Talking about the machinery, Michael told, “We ended up with a pull-rod suspension to improve air to the rear wing and that’s really where the gearbox comes in as well, as the whole driving force behind it is to improve airflow to that rear lower wing.”
Michael added, “We have had no issues with the transmission, no issues with the rear suspension, no problems at all, which is great. There have been a couple of little, annoying system problems, but generally it has been pretty good.”
It also features a battery type Kinetic Energy Recovery System. Although most of the Williams Hybrid Power work products use the mechanical KERS system Michael said that for 2011, electrical KERS will be used and in 2012 season, mechanical KERS will
be installed.
Their car looks a real difference from the 2010 car as it has very extreme angles of the drive shaft to improve the aerodynamic capacity of the car. These angles are more than any other team has ever used. Mostly the angles are set by the regulations
of FIA so these kinds of changes were expected.
Michael spoke about the new rules and some of the technological development in few cars as he said, “The interesting designs for me are obviously the Williams tight rear end, the double floor on the Toro Rosso and the forward exhaust on the Renault.”
He further added that these new rules do bring out the best of the technicality and concepts.
In 2010, Williams finished 6th on the constructors’ championship with 69 points while their drivers for last year Ruben Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg finished 10th and 14th respectively. Nico was
left out this season to make room for Pastor Maldonado to make his debut.
The livery has changed but the machine was same with which Ruben Barrichello was able to put the fastest lap on the final day of the Jerez test session. Although some critics pointed out that his car was lightweight which Michael denied.
It will be interesting to see how the Cosworth-powered machine with changed livery will be able to make the race interesting in the midfield.
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