Williams have unveiled their FW45 car which will compete in 2023 F1 season.
The FW45 car will be driven by Alex Albon who will be joined by American rookie, Logan Sargeant who replaces Nicholas Latifi at the team, following the Canadian’s departure at end of last season.
Williams have also confirmed that the following changes have been made compared to the FW44;
- Raised floor edges
- Tweaked sidepod concept with optimised power unit cooling layout
- Tweaked front suspension
- Tweaked aerodynamic surfaces
These changes are designed to ensure that the FW45 is “more areodynamically efficient” plus “more overall downforce and improved handling characteristics.”
Albon commented that the FW45 looks “great” and confirmed that the team will conduct a shakedown at Silverstone, prior to pre-season testing in Bahrain between 23-25 February.
Albon has also praised Williams for their efforts “over the winter to address some key areas in our car,” in order to maximise performance this season.
Sargeant meanwhile is “super motivated” to step up to F1 after finishing fourth in F2 as the highest-placed rookie last season.
On his thoughts about the car during the official launch, Sargeant said: “The car is looking amazing and it shows the huge effort the team has put in the off season, so I’m looking forward to getting started at Silverstone before heading out to Bahrain.”
On what it means to see Gulf join Williams after their partnership with McLaren wasn’t renewed beyond last season, Savage added: “This signifies the strength of our brand and commercial offerings as we continue our transformation.
“Gulf and Williams Racing share an illustrious motorsport heritage and, together, we are making history with this partnership.”
Behind the scenes, Williams have retained Jamie Chadwick, Oliver Gray and Zak O’Sullivan in their young driver academy, alongside Franco Colapinto – who replaces Roy Nissany – with the latter trio all competing in F3 this season, whilst Chadwick competes in IndyCar NXT.