Tech F1i: A closer look at the Williams FW40
By Nicolas Carpentiers, 20/02/2017 at 12:40
Williams continued its recent tradition of unveiling its new Formula 1 car first by releasing a video of its 2017-spec FW40 last Friday. Although the rendered images only offer a glimpse into Grove’s latest challenger, Nicolas Carpentiers takes a closer look at its main features.
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A GENERAL OVERVIEW
Williams might have undercut all other Formula 1 teams in taking the wraps off its new car first, the Grove-based outfit’s rendering of its FW40 (in celebration of the team’s 40 years of racing) outlined the main characteristics of 2017-spec chargers without giving away too much either.
This year sees the introduction of wider and lower cars fitted with bigger tyres, though the rendered images prevent any in-depth comparison. Although the car’s increased girth is evident, its sidepod width remains below the maximum authorised breadth. However, the floor, which has gained 200mm compared to last year’s model, highlights the stretched frame of the car.
The rationale behind keeping the sidepods narrow and as undercut as possible is to offset the surge in drag coming from Pirelli’s 25% wider tyres, with thread dimensions increasing from 245mm to 305mm at the front and from 325mm to 405mm at the rear.
A 12.5-DEGREE BACK SWEEP
Let’s start studying Williams’ latest challenger by focussing on its front end. The front wing span has gained 150mm, going from 1650mm to 1800mm, and sports a swept-back design with an angle of 12.5° between the tip of the wing and the endplates.
The outer section of the Williams front wing has kept the arched installation aimed at creating a vortex to drive away the dirty wake coming off the wider front tyres. The overall concept bears a lot of similarities with the final design trialled by Williams in 2016.
The British team introduced an experimental front wing in Austin last year, which featured an extra pair of fences. The rendered images of the FW40 do not include these areo elements so one may surmise that the Williams will most certainly sport a different front wing design when hitting the track for pre-season testing in Barcelona next week.
Last but not least, one can notice that Williams has retained the thumb-tip nose design that has been a distinctive trait on Grove’s chargers since 2015.
ADDING AN S-DUCT BUT KEEPING A CONVENTIONAL WISHBONE DESIGN
On the front end of the FW40 chassis, one can spot an S-duct system. Interestingly, Williams has never raced the concept so far.
As a reminder, the purpose of the S-duct is to speed and clean up the airflow under and over the nose, this in order to prevent as much as possible having slow air on the car’s nosecone, ahead of the driver.
The air is then spat out through an outlet. The latter is rounded on the FW40, same as on last year’s Force India VJM09, while it was hollowed out within the chassis on the Mercedes, McLaren, and Toro Rosso layouts. The mandated increase in nose length makes it more enticing to have an S-duct this year.
According to the rendering, the lower wishbone would retain its conventional ‘V’ shape. Once again, Williams engineers did not seem to have copied the conjoined wishbone approach made popular by Mercedes and adopted by the likes of Ferrari, Force India, and Toro Rosso.
In reducing drag and guiding the airflow efficiently, the conjoined design makes even more sense in 2017 given that the incidence of the suspension legs has gone from +/-5° to +/-10°, thus making the wishbones even more aero-friendly.
LARGER BARGEBOARDS
The FW40’s bargeboards are longer, wider and higher compared to last year’s FW38. The devices will drive out more of the front wheels’ turbulent wake and feed cleaner air underneath the car. In turn, this should increase downforce both at the front and the rear of the underbody.
Once again, the rendered images appear to show a much simplified version of the definitive design, which should feature more complex volumes and include a higher number of aero elements.
TAKING A LEAF OUT OF MERCEDES’ AIRBOX
Williams’ roll-hoop design draws some inspiration from last year’s Mercedes installation. Wider and flatter, the new-look airbox seems to have three separate inlets: a main duct that feeds cooling air to the compressor, flanked by two smaller pipes that send air to a radiator placed as an extension of the engine (which is either an ERS or gearbox cooler).
Consequently, the rectangular aperture that used to appear below the airbox and behind the driver’s head is gone (see yellow arrows), which hints at changes in the internal cooling package
BREAKING AWAY FROM RECENT ENGINE COVER DESIGNS
The leading edge of the FW40’s engine cover seems higher than on its predecessor but one should remember that the rear wing sits at a significantly lower level in 2017. Therefore, we will have to wait for further images to know whether this is just an optical illusion or not.
The base of the fin is solid and no longer hollow (compare yellow arrows), probably in a bid to better align the airflow towards the rear wing, which sits 150mm lower so in an area more exposed to turbulences. That’s why shark fins, which were all the rage in 2008-10, have made a return this year (see the Sauber C36 for instance).
At any rate, the elongated Williams engine cover is a departure from recent designs that used to be very short.
NOT LOOKING FOR REAR-GUARD ACTION
The new rear wing, which has gained 200mm to reach 950mm in width this year, is hard to make out on the rendering.
The wing’s curved outline exudes a Mercedes flavour, though its profile is less marked. The angle of incidence on the outer sections of the main plane is shallow – this to curb drag – whereas it remains important in the central part in order to still generate downforce.
It is worth pointing out that Williams’ new head of aerodynamics Dirk De Beer has not provided any input on the FW40’s volumes since the former Lotus and Ferrari man will start in his new role at Grove on March 1.
Devised and designed under the stewardship of Pat Symonds, who retired at the end of last year, the Williams FW40 will have the difficult task of helping the fabled British team recover from its 2016 slump that saw it slip down to fifth in the Constructor’s championship.