Williams FW40 Mercedes

[NutritionFact]

Fw 40 = 40th year in formula1

[edu2703]

Fw 40 = 40th year in formula1

Yes! That's why they jumped from FW38 to FW40.

[PlatinumZealot]

In these photos we can see a FW40 with very basic.... everything. Wings, bargeboards, turning vanes, brake ducts... Oh wait. There are NO brake ducts.

We'll have to wait until testing begins to see what they designed for this year.

Afraid to say it.. But i think this is their hand.

I thought it suspect when Pat Symmonds was downplaying the laptime gain of the new regs. It seems now that he was not being coy, he and Williams really missed a trick! The stark car we see here shows they were not creative enough.

They will be langusihing near the back of the midfield come the fly-away races unless they can react quickly.

[Scuderia1967]

I guess the team might start adding more complex parts during testing and evaluate their impact thoroughly?

Exactly. That's what the tests are for.

Money will not be a problem for Williams this year for the development of car and now they have Paddy Lowe and Dirk de Beer. So, it's expected to see new parts during the tests and during the season.

But, of course Internet is full of 'armchair engineers'. If you go to Reddit and see the comments. Many people think Williams will race in Melbourne with this car in the pictures above. In addition to the 'armchair engineers' saying Williams will be in the back of grid because of basic car design.

There were also plenty of "armchair engineers" who said, last week, "this is just a render, the real car will be completely different". Well, the "real car", apart from the sharkfin, looks as undeveloped as the "it's only a render" version...

[F1Krof]

This is extremely odd. I don't know what to make of it.

Either they really have nothing to show. oooor

They really have something to hide.

This is just bizzare, not Williams like. Some sort of huge loophole? Maybe? Double Diffusor calibre...

I'm dazzled...

[edu2703]

I think you don't know the meaning of 'Armchair engineers'

'Armchair engineers' are people who already claim the car will be good or bad just by analyzing pictures. In addition to establishing criteria to compare cars like:

Car with agressive design, full of aerodynamic devices = WCC for sure.

Clean design car, almost no aerodynamic device = Back of grid.

In addition, 'Armchair engineers' think the launch car will be exactly the same as it will race in Melbourne and the same that will race in Abu Dhabi. They have never heard about development.

I have removed part of your comment which was a personal spat with another poster. It had nothing to do with the thread. Please confine your comments to the actual car.

[edu2703]

This is extremely odd. I don't know what to make of it.

Either they really have nothing to show. oooor

They really have something to hide.

This is just bizzare, not Williams like. Some sort of huge loophole? Maybe? Double Diffusor calibre...

I'm dazzled...

All teams have at least one hidden/camouflaged device

[HungryHebbo]

This is surely just a launch spec - there aren't even any brake ducts!

Starting in 2012, Williams have mostly shied away from running traditional brake ducts at the front. They are drawing in the air exclusively with inlets between the blade on the wheel mounting and the sidewall of the tyre. Exceptions are made on tracks where brake cooling is most critical, like Mexico last season.

Had missed that bit of design, hadn't bothered following the Williams threads very much the last few years! Cheers

[edu2703]

I think Williams is trying to hide something near the rear suspension. I hope I have clear picture of this on Monday.

If that's what I'm thinking, the FW40 is not 'underdeveloped' as it looks.

[djos]

All I can say is as a long suffering Williams fan, i really hope they have a huge amount of development parts in the pipeline because the FW40 in its current form looks hugely under developed.

I was expecting Ferrari to show up with something basic after losing James Allison, but their car is freaking amazing and the pick of the bunch for me so far (which sucks because I like seeing Ferrari get beaten).

[edu2703]

All I can say is as a long suffering Williams fan, i really hope they have a huge amount of development parts in the pipeline because the FW40 in its current form looks hugely under developed.

We can not judge the performance of the car based solely on pictures. See my comment above about 'Armchair Engineers'). We need to see how the car behaves on the track.

In addition, it's a pre-season test. Teams usually hide their aero devices and also test different parts and devices. It's unlikely that this car in the pictures will be exactly the same as it will race in Melbourne or durante a temporada.

Paddy Lowe and Dirk de Beer will start work on Monday. They will point out the shortcomings of car and point out solutions. Solutions that will appear in the second test session or in Melbourne. Williams abandoned the development of 2016 car and focused on 2017 car. It's hard to believe they spent so much time developing a car with a basic design. Something they're hiding and I'm almost certain of it.

I was expecting Ferrari to show up with something basic after losing James Allison, but their car is freaking amazing and the pick of the bunch for me so far (which sucks because I like seeing Ferrari get beaten).

What? I did not expect it! Arrivabene ordered the engineers to develop a car with a very aggressive design and they did. Whether the car will be good or bad, that's another story.

Only the aerodynamic design does not determine the performance of car, The engine and other devices (Legal and Illegal) also determine the performance. In 2014, the Ferrari SF14T had a much more aggressive design than Williams FW36 (which many people said it's just the FW35 adapted to the new rules). In addition, Ferrari had a better line-up than Williams (two world champions against two average drivers). Despite this, Williams finished ahead of Ferrari in constructors
championship.

[djos]

I sincerely hope Williams beat Ferrari in the constructors championship again but the detailing on the Ferrari is exceptional, the Williams shown so far is less developed than the Sauber imo.

Aero is almost everything, Williams have the best PU on the grid, but aero and chassis let them down badly last year. I was really hoping for a brilliant design this year and fingers crossed they are just teasing us until testing shows us the real FW40.

[roadie]

So the cars this year have more drag from the standardised equipment. Does that place a greater emphasis on the efficiency of downforce against drag? Where does the increase in mechanical grip from the tyres come in?

There appear to be fewer lavish aerodynamic pieces on the FW40 compared to other car launches and the sidepod/engine cover packaging appears different to both Mercedes and Force India.

It's all very complex and I guess we shall see how things shake out over the next couple of months.

[LookBackTime]

https://twitter.com/f1technical/status/ ... 6596651009

[PhillipM]

So the cars this year have more drag from the standardised equipment. Does that place a greater emphasis on the efficiency of downforce against drag? Where does the increase in mechanical grip from the tyres come in?

There appear to be fewer lavish aerodynamic pieces on the FW40 compared to other car launches and the sidepod/engine cover packaging appears different to both Mercedes and Force India.

It's all very complex and I guess we shall see how things shake out over the next couple of months.

If you've got a fixed increase in drag you can't do anything about, it's usually better to then go the other way - aim for more downforce rather than efficiency on your aero, because the actual relative drag increase on the whole car isn't as bad.