George Russell, Williams, FW43 first run, Circuit de Catalunya, 2020

First pictures: New Williams makes its debut on track

2020 F1 season

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George Russell has given the new Williams FW43 its first run on track at the Circuit de Catalunya.

RaceFans understands the car completed the full distance permitted under the 100 kilometre maximum imposed on filming days such as this.

Williams revealed the first pictures of their new car earlier today.

Getting its new car running before the start of pre-season testing marks an early triumph for the team, who failed to run on either of the first two test days last year. The first of two three-day tests at the Spanish circuit begins on Wednesday.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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28 comments on “First pictures: New Williams makes its debut on track”

  1. Williams seems to have arrested one part of the slide, at least: delivering a car on time. Really hope they’re competitive with at least the back of the field this year.

  2. Seems like we’re gonna have a nice F2 field on the grid this year (Racing Point looks similarly bad). Sorry, but this screams backmarker and judging by the overall design, this will be another season to suffer through for Williams.

    1. Dutchguy (@justarandomdutchguy)
      17th February 2020, 10:37

      The RP does look very conventional, but considering where they were at the end of last year and how much money they now have, it might actually be half decent.
      I would not even be surprised if we get to see some more new features in Australia of even winter testing

    2. @pironitheprovocateur not sure how you’ve come to the conclusion that the RP is bad when respected journalists with an actual concept of as have dismissed the leaked photo as too low resolution to draw any conclusions from.

      Then again you also described the Alfa as a ‘tank’ and trashed the excellent Alpha Tauri livery so in conclusion, you seem to just be a troll who just loves a good moan. As you were.

      1. That’s your perspective, I apparently have different esthetic criteria. Alpha Tauri’s colours are nice, the execution quite clumsy – designers from the fashion brand obviously ignored the dispositions of current F1 cars and failed to make it look slimmer, and I was actually surprised that the technical department of the team agreed to such a generous use of white.

        As for the Racing Point, an improvement compared to the last season, but 2017/2018 liveries are miles ahead of this.

  3. I realize they need to make compromises when it comes to drivers, sponsors, visuls, etc… but the first thing that comes to mind when I see this is “we’re backmarkers and we know it”. Could they not have made a simpler, cleaner design? If I were Rockit I would have hated seeing my logo on this piece of meh.

    1. That said – good look in 2020. At least I hope they manage to bag a couple more points.

    2. I very rarely comment on paint jobs, it’s not something that really bothers me, but I totally agree with this assessment. I hate to say it but it looks cheap.

  4. Oh, Yikes…. At least they built the car on time this year? Baby steps.

  5. Dutchguy (@justarandomdutchguy)
    17th February 2020, 10:33

    This car looks like it’s 2 years old by now, but at least it looks decent. They’ve really worked on the livery, and it shows; it’s really quite pretty. The car also doesn’t look as horrendously chubby as the FW42, but it does look badly outdated. Here’s to hoping Russell can bag some points though.

  6. Very Manor F1 circa their demise… :/

    1. I was afraid to vocalize this, but yes. Let’s hope it’s only a coincidence.

  7. It looks pregnant compared to the front runners its so fat around the middle/rear. Here’s hoping it can at least fight in the midfield this year and give Russell a chance to show his talent.

  8. I have mixed feelings about the livery

  9. Looks like a clown car with a broken back. I’m sorry williams.

  10. Proud to see Williams supporting the people of Sealand by flying its flag on their end plates ;)

    1. @yossarian The coloring there is reversed from the actual flag of the Principality of Sealand. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Flag_of_Sealand.svg

      1. Ah so close. Useless memory, in that case I’ll retract my joke until the first time they roll the car

        1. @yossarian
          You will get to use your joke at the first race of the season then. Will be upside down by then ;)

  11. I.. like the livery. Got a nice splash of colour about it. Nice bright colours. Better than the previous with that horrible blue into white gradient that always looked off.

    1. agree…..doesn’t look bad at all

  12. Looks fairly generic (paint job) and I’m no aero export but it looks pedestrian.

    But – surely at this stage Williams need to be hoping for “average” as opposed to “tragic”. If this turns out to be an average car which can fight in the mid-field then it will be something of a victory. With the regulations changing completely next year, I completely understand that it’s not sustainable to spend so much R&D on 1 season.

    Stripping the car back and learning what went wrong is probably more valuable at this stage.

  13. George Russell has given the new Williams FW43 its first run on track at the Circuit de Catalunya.

    This is great news! I guess it’s a bit early in the day for some lap times.

    1. Yes, this is great news.
      The car is ready, at the track and running ahead of the first test. A major improvement from last year.
      Interesting that Williams is claiming the car is a “development of 2019” and Renault has taken an “Extreme Design” approach. Who is going to come out on top there.?? Looking forward to testing.

  14. I expect George already knows how the first races are going to go.

  15. Good to see they are on time with the planning.
    Let’s hope Williams collect more points this season.

  16. Are people actually using/buying the ROKIT phones in GB?

  17. The livery might be a tad generic but I think it looks decent. The car itself looks “fat” though compared to the Alpha Tauri, Haas & even the Racing Point, let alone the Ferrari, RBR & Merc. Based on looks alone, I’d wager it’s still closer to back of the pack than the front. Hopefully still not miles off, though.

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