FW33 to be launched on 1 February in Valencian pitlane

The Williams F1 team will not be hosting a formal launch event for the 2011 car, the FW33. As it seems, the British squad will simply unveil their new contender during the first test of the year in Valencia, Spain, on Tuesday 1 February where Rubens Barrichello and Pastor Maldonado will split driving duties equally throughout the three days.

And commenting in his column for 'Motorsport Magazine', Engineering Director Patrick Head spoke about the new car, saying, "Rubens Barrichello told the media that he thought the car looked radical, but I think it is just more adventurous than our 2010 car, and to move upwards in team order, it will need to be."

While also venturing into more specific information, "We will be running an entirely Williams-developed KERS system, with a battery storage cell. This is no reflection upon a flywheel system, such as we developed in 2008 for 2009, but it is difficult to package a flywheel system in a Formula 1 car with a 150+kg fuel tank. An F1 capacity battery pack is made up of a number of small lithium-ion cells, and they can be packaged into a shape which is convenient, usually positioned under the centre of the fuel tank.

"I have been asked whether we can win with a Cosworth engine, and my view is positive," he added. "The core engine is excellent, the only failure we had was in practice in the last race in Abu Dhabi, when a fixing in the trumpet tray became loose and was ingested."