Williams FW34 launch: First pictures of their 2012 F1 car
2012 F1 cars
The Williams-Renault FW34 has been revealed for the first time at the Jerez circuit in Spain.
After a very poor 2011, in which the team scored just five points and finished ninth in the world championship, Williams are hoping for a changes in fortunes in 2012.
The team have switched engine suppliers from Cosworth to Renault and Bruno Senna joins the team in place of Rubens Barrichello. Pastor Maldonado remains at Williams for a second season.
Team principal Frank Williams said: “One could say that looking at the Williams F1 Team today we are off to a truly fresh start. We have a new car, new driver line up, new engine and new senior personnel.
“We also have a number of new partners who have joined the team in the past few months. I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome them formally and sincerely wish that they have an enjoyable and, most importantly, a valuable experience with us. The team has had a good winter at the factory and we feel ready and strong for the fight.”
Williams FW34 pictures
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- Pastor Maldonado, Bruno Senna, Williams FW34, 2012
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- Williams FW34, Jerez, 2012
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- Pastor Maldonado, Williams FW34, Jerez, 2012
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- Pastor Maldonado, Williams FW34, Jerez, 2012
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- Pastor Maldonado, Xevi Pujolar, Jerez, 2012
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- Pastor Maldonado, Jerez, 2012
See more pictures of the Williams FW34 in today’s test.
2012 F1 cars
- New HRT F112 seen for the first time in Spain
- New Marussia MR01 breaks cover at Silverstone
- A closer look at the Caterham CT01
- Mercedes W03 officially revealed in Spain
- Picture: Mercedes W03 spied at Silverstone
- Mercedes W03 spotted testing at Silverstone
- Williams FW34 launch: First pictures of their 2012 F1 car
- Toro Rosso STR7 – first pictures and video of Toro Rosso’s 2012 F1 car
- Red Bull RB8 launch – first pictures and video of Red Bull’s 2012 F1 car
- Sauber C31 launch – first pictures and video of Sauber’s 2012 F1 car
Browse all 2012 F1 cars articles
Image © Williams/LAT
PieLighter (@pielighter) said on 7th February 2012, 7:42
Looking good. Question is: is it fast?
ivz (@ivz) said on 7th February 2012, 7:44
Hard to tell with just one photo, but is the ‘step’ itself curved?
The name Williams Renault, please be at least fighting at the front of the midfield.
ivz (@ivz) said on 7th February 2012, 7:54
Similar step nose to Ferrari?
dennis (@dennis) said on 7th February 2012, 8:21
They are probably the closest match. However, from these pictures I’d say the Williams one is a tiny bit smoother and more rounded towards the front.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner) said on 7th February 2012, 10:53
@ivz Looks like it. Doesn’t seem to have gone through the wind tunnel, though i’m sure it has.
Mark (@marlarkey) said on 7th February 2012, 13:50
Hope so but how likely with such a relatively inexperienced driver line up ? When was the last time they had a pair of such relatively inexperienced drivers ?
Matt said on 8th February 2012, 3:27
The nose step looks rather ‘blunt’ almost as though the chassis was designed high and then somebody point out the nose had to be a lot lower so they bolted on something with a steeper looking drop than most of the other teams.
Tom (@tomforpresident) said on 7th February 2012, 7:44
looks like they have managed to keep their tiny gear box with the new engine. will need to see more closely to know for sure though.
GeeMac (@geemac) said on 7th February 2012, 7:49
Williams testing liveries always end up being better than their race liveries, stick with this please Williams!!
The car looks pretty good actually. Maybe it’s just the dark paint…:)
Fixy (@fixy) said on 7th February 2012, 12:45
Oh @geemac, I love it as well, but I don’t see why they changed their retro livery when they have signed Senna. Maybe they wish to forget the past, and I’d understand that, but to have a retro helmet and livery together would be amazing.
GeeMac (@geemac) said on 7th February 2012, 14:15
Yeah, retro helmet, retro livery, retro manufacturer/engine combo!
q85 said on 7th February 2012, 14:21
yeah that currently above is the worst livery on the grid so far, hopefully its just a testing one.
Matt said on 8th February 2012, 3:33
I had wished for a proper retro livery….going back closer to one of the old Williams Renault designs which were always superb. Randstad and Embratel both use lighter blues, closer to the old Rothmans blue than the dark blue on the car. If only they had used that blue and a yellow outline of the embratel logo so it resembled the FW16-19. I guess they were never going to do that, even though those old designs were classic
dennis (@dennis) said on 7th February 2012, 7:50
Might be just the paintjob, but the side-pods turn down REALLY early.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner) said on 7th February 2012, 10:56
@dennis Looks like they’ve decided to stick with the ‘tight rear end’.
dennis (@dennis) said on 7th February 2012, 11:13
@AndrewTanner
Yes, but the sidepods not only seem to curve in towards the center of the car a lot, they are also really short.
Matt said on 8th February 2012, 3:38
Most of the teams have just followed up on Newey’s design from last year….large undercuts for the sidepod intakes, with the intakes themselves being as small as technically possible for cooling. I think the size of the intakes immediately gives away how good the cooling is in smaller being better and less compromise for the aero around to the back of the car. William’s seems not so good. The rest of the rear follows Neweys pull rod rear suspension to get that pronounced coke bottle tight rear end and maximise clean airflow over the rear
Robert said on 7th February 2012, 7:52
Williams Renault sounds a good combination , midfield contenders and might surprise Lotus Renault.
P.S. is that the Senna logo on front wings again.
Scary very scary for Bruno and family.
Best of luck
Optimaximal said on 7th February 2012, 8:22
If you mean right on the tip of the nose, then no, that’s the Williams F1 logo.
As an aside, Williams have carried the Senna ‘S’ on every livery since his death. It’s on the front wing somewhere.
Optimaximal said on 7th February 2012, 8:23
Sorry, yes, it’s on the struts in http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/mald_senn_will_fw34_2012.jpg
GeeMac (@geemac) said on 7th February 2012, 9:20
Yeah, @optimaximal is right. The “Senna S” has been on the nose of every Williams since 1995.
cjpdk (@cjpdk) said on 7th February 2012, 21:59
Senna, Williams-Renault
Please god may there never be another San Marino Grand Prix.
Ryan Williams (@) said on 7th February 2012, 7:57
Another pretty car from Williams. The stepped nose is ugly, but that’s to be expected, and the rest of the car is fantastic to look at. The paint scheme is one of the best of this year in my opinion, especially the blue and white stripes on the air box & engine cover.
I really hope Williams find some pace this year. It would be great to see a Williams Renault driven by Senna towards the sharper end of the grid this year
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley) said on 7th February 2012, 7:58
OK, that is seriously gorgeous. Even better than last year’s car! Best livery Williams have had in ages. I really hope this car marks a turn in their fortunes. They’ve got the money, the engine, and hopefully they’ll have two good drivers next year.
dennis (@dennis) said on 7th February 2012, 8:17
@damonsmedley
After seeing last year’s car I was expecting them to do way better than they did.
This year, due to the loss of EBDs I think the superflat rear end could actually work. The change to Renault might help as well.
Maybe Senna and Maldonado get their stuff together.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 7th February 2012, 8:10
First high-res shot added, more to follow:
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2012/02/07/williams-fw34-pictures-williams-2012-f1-car/mald_senn_will_fw34_2012/
dennis (@dennis) said on 7th February 2012, 8:26
@keithcollantine
I like car presentations so early in the day.
Much easier and faster to check out the pics when there aren’t 200 million people trying the same thing at the same time. :P
Eggry (@eggry) said on 7th February 2012, 8:24
Very tiny engine cover. Interesting. I hope it would be competitive.
US Williams Fan said on 8th February 2012, 4:58
I thought the same thing. I am both hopeful and optimistic about it! fingers crossed!
Aldoid said on 7th February 2012, 8:29
Loving the livery, & the Williams-Renault combination just seems right. I don’t think there are any true F1 fans who don’t wish this team well this year.
OOliver said on 7th February 2012, 8:34
The car doesn’t look too bad and no surprises there. Their racing overalls is a bit too dull
squaregoldfish (@squaregoldfish) said on 7th February 2012, 8:37
Only two blades on the front wing? A retrograde step from Gillette, I feel.
Tom (@) said on 7th February 2012, 8:58
:) You’d think they’d at least paint them silver.
Gambisk said on 7th February 2012, 8:42
This may be a dumb question but what are the circles for just behind the roll hoop? You can see one on both sides infront of the renault graphic.
GeeMac (@geemac) said on 7th February 2012, 9:26
I believe it’s the exterior engine cut off switch. All the cars have to have them.
You can see McLaren’s one in this pic (the wee red toggle):
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/mclaren_mp4-27_2012-6.jpg
Ferarri’s one is easier to spot in this pic:
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/ferrari_f2012_2012-42.jpg
Gambisk said on 7th February 2012, 11:55
Ok that makes sense now thanks! I thought it was some bizare exaust arangement at first.
matt88 (@matt88) said on 7th February 2012, 8:47
Williams’s liveries are always among the best, i hope this year they’re competitive too…
Proesterchen (@proesterchen) said on 7th February 2012, 8:53
From the branding on the car, Bruno Senna didn’t bring that much money, did he? No wonder they were going for Adrian Sutil initially.
Also, it’s pretty clear why Williams went with two pay drivers – they have one, maybe two sponsors of their own. Which I would classify as worrisome for any team, but for a publicly traded company this is scary stuff.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys) said on 7th February 2012, 10:09
Someone needs to speak to PDVSA, Embratel and Gilette – they’re clearly not getting their money’s worth.
Fernando Cruz said on 10th February 2012, 18:01
PDVSA takes much more money than Bruno’ sponsors put together. Chavez uses people of Venezuela’ s money to support a racing driver in the most capitalist of sports.
At least Embratel, Gilette and OGX are private companies that support Bruno because they believe in his talent. They don’ t use money from brazilian people, as far as I know.