FW40 Tag

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor After two seasons with regular podiums, Williams Martini Racing slipped behind Force India last year for a disappointing fifth in the Constructor’s standings. A turbulent off season saw them lose Valtteri Bottas to Mercedes after Nico Rosberg’s surprise retirement. This caused an awkward exchange when the team immediately called veteran Felipe Massa out of retirement. The affable Brazilian agreed and he leads Williams for at least one more season. He is joined by Canadian rookie Lance Stroll, who won blitzed last year’s European F3 Championship andRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor It was all thumbs up for Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari today. The four time champ looked absolutely unassailable as he set the fastest time of testing so far and completed a day high 156 laps. His 1:19.024 on ultra softs bested the Mercedes duo on the same tires by three tenths of a second and Felipe Massa’s Williams by four tenths. So confident was Vettel that he visibly slowed on the final straight for most of his fast laps, an ominious sign for their challengers that theRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Just as many began to doubt Mercedes’ pace, the silver arrows struck back with Valtteri Bottas who set a scorching 1:19.310 lap of Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The new Mercedes man only used the super soft tires to set the best time of 2017 thus far, and looked very comfortable behind the wheel of the W08 where he stayed for 70 laps today. Williams man and yesterday’s pace setter Felipe Massa kept him honest with a strong 1:19.420 for the ultra soft shod FW40. Both of their timesRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Felipe Massa and Williams surprised the field by topping the time sheets for the opening day of the second pre-season test from Barcelona today. The Brazilian veteran clocked a solid 1:19.726 in his FW40 on the super soft tires and logged a massive 168 laps around Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Daniel Ricciardo got Red Bull close to Massa’s time with a 1:19.900, but had to run the ultra soft tires in order to do so. The Aussie ran 89 laps for a solid if most unspectacular dayRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The much anticipated 2017 Formula One cars finally took to the track en masse today at Circuit de Bracelona-Catalunya in Spain. Unsurprisingly Lewis Hamilton set the day’s fastest time with a solid 1:21.765 on the soft tires. Somewhat surprisingly, Sebastian Vettel nearly matched him with a 1:21.878 on the mediums! The Mercedes looks good, but Ferrari’s risky new design seems to work well. Both teams performed flawlessly and racked up the mileage. The Mercedes duo of Hamilton and newcomer Valtteri Bottas covered 152 laps for theRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Following renderings of its 2017 challenger, Williams has finally released the first images of the FW40. The famous Martini Racing stripes remain a part of the team for a fourth consecutive season and runs upward on a very pronounced sharkfin, similar to every team with the exception of Mercedes. The sidepods and airbox are also noticeably modified compared to last year’s car. The team welcomes the return of veteran Felipe Massa, whom came back from a brief retirement at the end of last season when ValtteriRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Williams has surprised the F1 community by becoming the first team to reveal, albeit in the form of a rendering, their 2017 car. Dubbed the FW40 to celebrate the team’s 40th anniversary in the sport, the new car gives us our first glimpse at the effects of the 2017 rule changes. Most notable are the swept back front wing, possible s duct in the nose, larger bargeboards, and reshaped sidepods. It features a larger air intake, complete with a mini shark fin, a vastly different rearRead More