F1 Madness

Tag: fw36

  • Williams F1 Team launch first images of FW37

    Williams F1 Team launch first images of FW37

    The Williams F1 Team has become the first team to reveal its 2015 Formula One title contender, with a computer rendered image of its FW37 appearing on the front cover of this month’s F1 Racing magazine.

    Following that, the team followed up with images of the Fw37 on their website along with a statement from the team.

    Ahead of the imminent launch of Force India’s new livery later today, the Williams team, who finished in third place in the 2014 Constructors’ Championship, showed off the FW37, which features a revised front nose in order to comply with the 2015 regulations and rule changes.

    The FW37 will be piloted once again by Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas, and the car will again be powered by Mercedes engines.

    Minor changes to the Martini-based livery are seen including new the appearance of new sponsors Rexona, Avanade and Hackett.

    Williams FW37 - F1Racing Mag“The notion for the FW37 was to look closely at the FW36 and its performances,” said Williams Martini Racing’s Chief Technical Officer Pat Symonds in a statement on the team website. “We then went about recognising what had worked well and identifying and resolving the areas that we felt needed to be improved. Although the aerodynamics of the car were impressive there is always room for improvement particularly as we handle the new 2015 nose regulations,” he continued.

    According to the statement the design of the FW37 has stemmed from the performance of the FW36 but the conceptual ideas came long before the 2014 successes.

    “The first conceptual stage of the FW37 came before the FW36 had turned a wheel,” Symonds continued. The main element to this is understanding the rule changes and how they will affect the design of the car, from here we can start see if our ideas will fit within the regulations”.

    The Williams team managed to rack up nine podiums throughout the 2014 season and also enjoyed a front row lockout at the Austrian Grand Prix. They placed third in the Constructors’ championship and are looking to continue their climb up the ladder.

    “The desire to beat Ferrari to third place in the Constructors’ in 2014 meant we pushed our development through to late autumn, but the size of the team is now at a point where it was able to sustain this development whilst still working on the FW37,” Symonds said.

    The layout phase of the FW37 was completed by the summer break in August, according to the team. Work on the new front bulkhead was a main priority for the designers and aerodynamicists due to the changes to the regulations for 2015.

    “The change in regulations offered us a slight headache,” Symonds explained. “The new front bulkhead and nose geometry had much more of an impact than we had initially anticipated and the effect on the aero was profound. The team have worked hard on pulling back the deficit these regulations have made for us”.

    But, the team has its eyes on more podiums this year and Williams is hoping to catch Mercedes with their FW37 this season.

    Williams FW37 launch“The more rule stability there is, the closer the field gets. I hope as a team we are more capable of maintaining the forward momentum to catch Mercedes, than the teams behind us are of catching us. It’s not just about stable regulations but also about the team and every individual that works here moving forward and improving.”

    Frank Williams, Team Principal concluded the team statement saying that, “The team had a fantastic season last year, we are aiming to replicate this development over the winter and to start the 2015 season in a strong position. We have an enormously talented group of people here at Williams who want nothing more than the team to do well. This passion produced a great turn around in fortunes for the team in 2014 and everybody has worked tirelessly to continue that climb up the grid.

    “We have added a few more high profile names to accompany the incredibly supportive group of partners we have,” Frank Williams added. “After a very strong first year with Mercedes we are looking to further develop the relationship as we look for more podiums in 2015. I feel this year will be equally as exciting as the last and look forward to seeing the FW37 on the grid at the first race.”

  • The Williams F1 Team’s FW36

    The Williams F1 Team’s FW36

    The Williams F1 team revealed the first images of their 2014 contender, the FW36 on Thursday via its website and Twitter.

    The images released are a digital rendering of the car which is shown in an interim all-navy blue livery. The released images were met with much skepticism and criticism from fans on the social networks – specifically around the narrow nose which features on the FW36. The nose is far narrower and has even been reported to resemble that of an anteater but is necessary according to the team to meet FIA regulations while allowing for as much airflow as possible under the car. Most teams are expected to adopt similar solutions to meet the 2014 regulations.

    According to the team, the FW36 is one of the “most technologically advanced Formula One cars produced by Williams” and is the culmination of more than two years’ research and development by the team’s technical departments. It is also incorporates the power unit from the team’s new partner, Mercedes-Benz.

    The Williams FW36The FW36 will be the first Williams powered by a Mercedes engine, with the all new V6 turbo and Energy Recovery Systems. “This is the first time that Williams has worked with Mercedes in F1 and we’ve been very impressed,” says Williams Chief Technical Officer Pat Symonds. “Their professionalism and commitment have been notable and we’re as confident as we can be that the power unit will be competitive.”
    “There’s a lot more technology on the cars this year,” he continued. “We’ve had turbo-charged engines in F1 before; what’s different this time is that it is much more than just an engine change, it is a completely different system. We’ve gone from a slightly hybridised normally aspirated engine to a fully integrated hybrid power unit with novel technology at its heart.

    “Overall the cars will need more cooling this year. The demands on water and oil cooling may be slightly diminished, but the ERS system is significantly more powerful and hence needs more cooling. We also have to cool the charge air from the turbocharger compressor which requires a substantial intercooler.”

    According to the team, the FW36’s gearbox ran on the dyno for the first time at the beginning of November, before running with the full power unit several weeks later. It’s also the first eight-speed gearbox in Williams’ history.

    Symonds explained, “We finished the gearbox relatively early. It’s completed a lot of running on the test rig and at Mercedes HPP in Brixworth, but you can’t take reliability for granted. It’s a completely new ‘box and it has to cope with a lot more torque than was the case with the V8.”

    The Williams FW36The team also explained on their website that the weight of the car, when combined with the FIA’s ever more stringent crash tests, has been another big challenge  for them. But they’re proud of the fact that the FW36 was one of the first cars to pass its crash tests prior to Christmas.
    “The build of the new car has gone remarkably smoothly,” said Symonds. “But it’s been a challenge to get the car down to the weight limit. It’s been achievable, but it hasn’t been easy because the new power unit is heavier than the outgoing V8.”
    Most fans will be waiting to see the aerodynamic impact of the changes made on the FW36 which we’ll only get to see at testing next week but Symonds is confident that the team have made great strides forward and are closer to competing with the cars up front. “I’m confident that we’ll be closer to the front aerodynamically than we were last year,” he said. “Our ambition for the year ahead is to have a strong 2014 season.”