[ 2020 ] Williams F1 Team - Mercedes

[Lotus102]

I will not pay any attention to the times. But simply the fact that the car is running and put a very decent number of laps already is a huge progress over the last year!

True, and I suspect we will have no real idea about relative pace until the last day of testing before Melbourne, if then - but so far only three teams have exceeded their 2019 quali times at the circuit and Williams is one of them

[izzy]

True, and I suspect we will have no real idea about relative pace until the last day of testing before Melbourne, if then - but so far only three teams have exceeded their 2019 quali times at the circuit and Williams is one of them

I do hope you're right being optimistic, but he's the only one on Softs and 2nd fastest in S1 and 3rd slowest in S3 so far, that doesn't say lots of downforce really. But plenty of running at least

[Lotus102]

True, and I suspect we will have no real idea about relative pace until the last day of testing before Melbourne, if then - but so far only three teams have exceeded their 2019 quali times at the circuit and Williams is one of them

I do hope you're right being optimistic, but he's the only one on Softs and 2nd fastest in S1 and 3rd slowest in S3 so far, that doesn't say lots of downforce really. But plenty of running at least

I haven’t seen sector times but in the end his best time was on mediums. Third most running of any team in the morning, so reasons for - very cautious - optimism

[Sevach]

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/russ ... a/4688006/

Russell thinks it's a much better car (one would hope so).

[izzy]

I haven’t seen sector times but in the end his best time was on mediums. Third most running of any team in the morning, so reasons for - very cautious - optimism

yes true and they're in the mix at least this time. The app has stopped updating its best sectors for now, but 'Not last' would be a victory at this stage, and then more to come if they've got the organisation running, hopefully

[Lotus102]

yes true and they're in the mix at least this time. The app has stopped updating its best sectors for now, but 'Not last' would be a victory at this stage, and then more to come if they've got the organisation running, hopefully

I would treat 'not last' like a WDC/Indy/Le Mans win rolled into one! I have to say, though, that after today, I am starting to believe that not last, even in just the odd GP, might be a distinct possibility

[Lotus102]

Back to reality a little bit today what with the niggles after lunch, although Williams still ended the day with fewer technical issues than Renault, and at least didn't end the day with the car in the barrier like Haas. And still a million times better than last year, of course. Impossible to get any sense of relative pace at the moment but I still feel Williams won't be too far off the bulk of the midfield come Melbourne

[JordanMugen]

I don't like the Williams livery, I think it looks rather messy.

It seems ABK Beer is associated with Rokit (indeed, a subsidiary), so why couldn't the Williams be presented in similar colours to the Rokit/ABK BTCC car?



It's true the last red Williams cars were not a golden era for the team, but I think a red and black car would look smarter than the white, blue and red livery.

Interesting. Blue with red trim, then?

Yes, indeed!

I am not a fan. Where last year's Williams livery looked very stylish and distinctive, this year's livery looks rather messy IMO. IMO it would have been better to either stick with the previous Williams "team brand" livery (if Rokit would accept it), or change to a full red and black livery in Rokit colours.

[Scorpaguy]

After a few glimpses of the FW43 and the team in general...seems a big leap forward. Car appears finished and not some kind of jostled together kit. A bit slimmer/trimmer and finer hone IMHO. First on track was a good gesture as well. A genuine threat to at least fight for last place and not an embarrassing "also ran". Hope to see some real racing from them this year...even if it is against Alfa and Haas.

...and this is F1, so hoping for even better.

[Lotus102]

Back to Earth with a bit of a bump today - lot of laps lost to an engine change. Not as bad as some other teams have had it, sure, but Williams has further to catch up. Still, things are looking way more positive than last year.

As far as the colour scheme is concerned, it's best from the angles where the red shows up most - rear three-quarter, for example. It seems a bit of a frankenlivery - I have to say I preferred last year's even though the car was frightful. I agree that a full-on Rokit red and black livery would have been preferable, but then it would have been hard to tell the car from a Ferrari at a distance or in a brief glimpse. (When Sauber went white and it was really hard to tell them from Williams in the head-on shots it was so annoying)

[humble sabot]

Anyone know why Russell didn't run friday? If they'd had two drivers running they'd for sure have looked better on the laps run stats.

[Lotus102]

Anyone know why Russell didn't run friday? If they'd had two drivers running they'd for sure have looked better on the laps run stats.

The plan was for both drivers to split day 1, Russell to drive all of day 2 and Latifi all of day 3. Other teams did similar. The reason for relatively low lap count on Friday was because an engine change was needed, not because there was only one driver in the car. Wouldn’t have made any difference to run Russell.

[humble sabot]

only one car?

[Zynerji]

only one car?

Only 1 car per team during testing.

[Tzk]

All teams only run a single car.