Williams FW37 Mercedes

[LookBackTime]

Pat Symonds Q & A

Q: Which part of the car the team focused on the development for this year?

PS: Our main development has been working on the air flow around the rear of the car

Q: Pat, what's the advantage / disadvantage of the FW37 stub nose over the rounded style of say McLaren or Ferrari?

PS: Aerodynamics are improved although its harder to pass the crash test

Q: Bottas had a fantastic season last year! do you think he can win races this season?

PS: I think if we give him the car to do it......

Q: What is the biggest change to the chassis from the FW36 to FW37?

PS: We have tidied up the rear end of the car and improved the rear suspension

Q: Hello, how could be the difference for seconds in a lap considering the low track's temperature??

PS: We use the low track temperatures for system checks rather than performance and lap time

Q: how do 15 tyres compare to last year?

PS: They offer slightly better performance. The characteristics are better so the drivers are more confident with them

Q: Will you go for aggressive strategies this year to go outright for wins rather than secure podiums/points finishes?

PS: If we are in the position to be winning races this year then we will be going for it

Q: How much will the FW37 change before the 1st race & how much will change between the fly away races?

PS: The most visual change between now and the first race will be a new rear wing

Q: Did the elimination of FRAC, and other technical changes, push your team to design a "better" car this year?

PS: FRIC? It was a small detail for us so the change has been minimal

[Sevach]

Moderate rake.

[triptube]

Williams: Petrobras gasoline can still waiting for

Dieter Rencken & Ruben Zimmermann,
02 February 2015 - 16:40 CET

The new Petrobras gasoline with which Williams was supposed to go in the 2015 season at the start, according to art director Pat Symonds is not yet operational.

Also, the FW37 will be without fuel from partners Petrobras.

(Motorsport-Total.com) - Back in February 2014 Williams announced its new partnership with the Brazilian oil company Petrobras. The parastatal company that supports, among other driver Felipe Massa should actually serve the team from Grove from the 2015 season with gasoline. As Williams Technical Director Pat Symonds now, however, reported that it will provisionally be nothing.

"We are in this season, not gasoline from Petrobras. We will use it when it's ready. But this is not quite the case. We are still in development," said Symonds and responds to the question, when the fuel will be ready, "inventions can not be planned, so I make no assumptions."

Petrobras had Williams first time in 1998 supplied with gasoline and was the team remained faithful for eleven years until 2008. Last year, the partnership has been revived since adorns the logo of the petroleum company or the Williams FW36 this year the new FW37. The Mercedes engine inside the cars, however provisionally extended not fed with Brazilian fuel.

[FW17]

Williams using the digital dashboard display they trialed in Abu Dhabi last year final test.

(anyone has a better picture?)

[Sevach]

You can see it here(open in another window for big picture).

[stefan_]

2015 Winter testing | Session 1, Day 3 - Jerez de la Frontera, Spain (03.02.2015)

[LookBackTime]

Picture from November test

[roadie]

So I have read about Mercedes changing the packaging of the exhaust for the engine this season:

http://www.f1technical.net/development/461

I wonder if that is the reason for the lessened undercut of the FW37 compared to the FW36 and whether it has severely affected the aims and achievements of the aero department?

[tomazy]

[Sevach]

So I have read about Mercedes changing the packaging of the exhaust for the engine this season:

http://www.f1technical.net/development/461

I wonder if that is the reason for the lessened undercut of the FW37 compared to the FW36 and whether it has severely affected the aims and achievements of the aero department?

I don't think it's lessened, if you look at where the sidepod actually meets the floor it's pretty similar imo.





Keep in mind that "double floors" have been notoriously finicky ever since the 90's, great wind tunnel results but on the track when the car pitches and rolls everything goes to sh...

With that in mind the rounded sidepod design of the 37 should offer more consistent downforce than the blunt cut of the 36.

Which corroborates with what Bottas said

[turbof1]

They have a new endplate compared to last year:

[LookBackTime]

Massa comments about FW 37

Felipe Massa feels Williams Martini Racing is a 'different and better team' to that of twelve months ago as it began to show the first signs of a revival that would take it to third in last year's constructors' standings.

The Brazilian got his first laps in the new FW37 on the third day of the F1 pre-season test in Jerez, focusing on developing the chassis and stability en route to the fourth fastest time.

Indeed, Massa admits there is no focus on the pushing the Mercedes engine at this time – a sentiment echoed by the factory Mercedes team -, so was subsequently pleased with the progress made in others areas.

“I think it was good,” he said. “I think it was a good feeling today in the car, a positive feeling from the car when driving. We're still not where I should be, just the first impressions were very positive. It's still a lot of working and a lot of developing until everything is correct for the first race.

“I think in some areas we improved, I feel the car is more stable than last year, a bit easier to drive, I think that's positive. “I'm talking just about the chassis, the stability and just this type of development. The engine we're still not running what we're supposed to have so the engine is not the main point until now because we're still not running what I hope we will run.”

A year on from his debut with Williams, Massa reflects on the strides made by the team in that time, which was coming into 2014 having suffered one of the worst season's in its history. Now Massa feels the subsequent success of 2014 has made it a better team going forward into 2015.

“It's a different team. It's a lot better team, much more prepared, much more experienced, everything is different. The team is a lot more prepared, it's in much better shape compared to how we started last year. We had a good car, we had a fantastic season, the development was great but I think the team is a lot more prepared, which is good.”

[Artur Craft]

http://www.formula1.com/wi/enlarge/sutt ... 3fe213.jpg[/url]

I never imagined the flow had that path at that point

Given Mercedes also have a relatively bulkier sidepod, I guess the Mercedes PU dimensions are preventing Williams from tightening their rear.

[PlatinumZealot]

Can it get any tighter than that?!

[LookBackTime]