Williams’ 2017 F1 car the FW40: First impressions

The first few rendered images of the Williams FW40 were revealed by Autosport. This is the first time we’re seeing the new car under the 2017 regulations. Even though the images are just renderings and not the actual image of the car, we can be pretty sure this is how the car will look on the grid at Melbourne.

The swept back front wing seems conservative compared to what was expected from most teams. The nose is still ugly and hasn’t changed much. The thumb tip nose still has its place since multiple teams used it in 2014. Moving up from the nose, there’s the outlet from the S-duct allowing better air flow over the body work.

The shape of the side pods has changed, making it slightly meaner looking and much narrower. The tea tray has become shorter while the barge boards are now wider. Some new winglets and aero parts have also been added closer to the cockpit.

And by far the most noticeable change is that in the rear wing. It is now much lower and sits almost at the same height as the roll hoop. This alone makes the car more attractive. The previous tall wing was an eyesore and didn’t provide much pace either, relatively speaking.

This is also the first time we’re seeing the new tires on the 2017 car. We’ve previously seen it on Pirelli’s 60% scale model they showed last year at Monaco and at their testing sessions recently. Overall the car does look much better and should be going around the track significantly quicker.

Mercedes did show off their engine for next year with its first fire up quite recently.

We can assume that some of the major design cues will be the same with other cars on the grid. The FW40 does look better than last year’s FW38. The 40 is in recognition of Williams’ 40 anniversary. It’ll be interesting to see how Williams fare this season with their rookie driver, Lance Stroll, and the returning Massa from his short retirement period. So, with Paddy Lowe all set to join the team and Stroll having some big shoes to fill, it’ll be exciting to see how the year turns out for them.