Williams FW35 launch: First pictures

2013 F1 cars

Posted on

| Written by

The Williams FW35 is the last of the new cars for 2013 to make its first appearance.

Technical director Mike Coughlan said the car is based on last year’s race-winning FW34, but around 80% of its parts are new:

“Given the rule stability over the winter. I’m pleased with the gains that we’ve been able to make with this car,” he said.

“It’s a better, more refined Formula One car than the FW34 and I think everyone involved in the project can feel proud of the work they’ve done.”

Coughlan added the car’s exhausts will be a priority for development this year:

“The Coanda effect is going to be a big thing for us. There’s been no rule clarification concerning this area of the car, so we’ll work closely with Renault to maximise the available gains.

“Use of the DRS is more restricted this year, so we’ll take some resource away from that and focus on other areas.”

Pastor Maldonado scored his first Grand Prix win for the team last year and will be aiming to build on that success. But he faces a new team mate in the shape of highly-rated rookie Valtteri Bottas.

Team principal Frank Williams said: ” We will have to wait until Australia to truly see what we have, but we believe it is step forward from last year’s car which was also a very competitive vehicle.

“Pastor is a delightful character who is a massively determined racer, whilst Valtteri is quieter but still waters run deep and he is a highly gifted driver.

“Williams has been at the top many times over the last 30 years. It’s the nature of the sport to have ups and downs, but when we are down we always fight our way back.

“I’m hoping that with the current team we have in place, our new FW35, the combined talent of Pastor, Valtteri and Susie, and the continued support from our partners, we will be in a position to challenge the very best.”

Author information

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...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

83 comments on “Williams FW35 launch: First pictures”

  1. hope williams show some thing new with their car, they missed the first test hope it’s for a good reason.

    1. they missed the first test hope it’s for a good reason

      It usually is.

  2. Wow. You could fit a bus between the bodywork and the rear wing.

    1. It’s like someone took a bite out of that rear end.

      1. @journeyer – And like someone took a bit out of the nose as well. The front wing extends well beyond the nose.

        1. Isn’t that just an optical illusion? You see the frontwing from an angle because of the wide lense. image gives you a better angle.

          1. @albertc – I doubt it’s an optical illusion. Not from that angle. No, it’s more likely that the FW35 is carrying an FW34 front wing.

        2. It is actually an illusion! We are looking at an image of the car that is slightly bent. Our perspective of the front wing is not parallel but rather slightly behind (hence we can see the rear of the front tyre) and the opposite is true for the rear, which we are looking at from slightly in front (hence we can see the front of the rear tyre). That photo just makes it look like the car has a crummy underbite but really it all lines up just fine.

          1. I agree, it is the angle that creates the illusion of the front wing being extended in front of the nose. if you look at the other images, it shows the nose lined up with the edge of the front wing. Still, it does look a bit odd from the other images. the rear looks like they tightened it up with the new exhaust so much that it does appear to have a huge gap between the bodywork and the rear wing and that looks rather unbalanced to me. but they just have their reasons, aerodynamically, but the gap just looks huge. I just looked at images of some of the other 2013 cars and I don’t see one that has this much open space between the bodywork the rear wing. I guess we will see.

    2. My thoughts exactly, all the best, looks like they on to something (continuing 2012 progress).

    3. Hopefully their further refinement of their “invisible gearbox” will propel them up a bit.

    4. I know I’m not on YouTube, but for the sake of keeping the joke alive, I’m sure Grosjean will try to fit a Lotus in there.

  3. Williams seem to have launched half a car, it has no rear bodywork at all!

  4. Never seen a “navy blue” Ferrari before.

    1. @valentino I see what you did there, but I beg to differ. I’ve seen one before. :)

      http://f1-grandprix.com/?p=19558

  5. looks similar to the F138.

  6. Looks like they’re continuing their super-low gearbox concept then. It’s barely even there!

  7. The front wing looks surreal
    source: WilliamsF1.com

      1. The side profile pic makes the car look like it has been assembled in an episode of Junkyard Wars! ;)
        Especially with that rear-end and that front wing :)

  8. are my eyes playing tricks on me but on the studio photo the front wing is miles ahead of the nose but on the others its not. That cannot be just angle surely?

    1. maybe it is – odd

    2. in the other images, it appears as if the nose does line up, just in the wide angle side shot does it look distorted and out of line. it is the rear that looks so odd and out of balance.

    3. They used a wide angle lens, it distorts the image if too close. Look at the rear tire and see how it too is distorted.

  9. Looks really good! Loving how aggressive and sleek the front half of the car looks. Let’s hope Maldonado can do more with it than utilizing it as the world’s most expensive battering ram.

  10. Massive gap under the sidepods, massive gap at the back of the car.

    Wondering where they put everything :| Very impressed

    1. @disjunto I won’t be impressed until I know it’s reliable! All this space saving caused RBR issues last year with their alternator…

  11. looks nice. Front resembles f138 rear is Williams since 2010.
    Front wheel nut looks massive and strange while rear is just regular one wonder why?

    1. @geekracer2000 It’s a cap on the wheelnut. to hide what’s underneath. early pictures from the car driving show there is a massive hole in the wheelnut that looks like an airchannel comming out of the hub….

  12. The FIA are going to have to re-think the size of an F1 car. Clearly they don’t need to be as long as they used to be. Lots of empty space.

    1. I think the teams like them longer so they can get the gearbox as low and the engine+fuel tank+KERS more to the middle of the car

  13. I have never before seen cameras being mounted on the inside of front wing pillars. I thought you had to place them on the outside.

    1. Really? I think most teams with the exception of Redbull have the same solution.

  14. really like this.. the headline picture looks like last years mclaren, before the nose drop. Really like the front end too! could this be a game changer for Williams!?

    1. No. For Williams, that would have to come from the drivers. There was very little wrong with the car’s speed last year.

      1. I wish Lewis had gone to Williams. He is not going to be much faster than nico and he’s not going to be number1 like Alonso is at Ferrari. He left mclaren the team that have looked after him since the age of 13 to look for a faster team, and I dont think he’s going to find it at brackly.

        If he went to Williams in an attempt to bring Williams back to the front I honestly think he could have done it. It also would have looked respectful if it didnt work so well and he only came 4th or 5th. Last years car was fast, its just they had 1 fast inconstant hot head who should of been banned for ‘using a car as a weapon twice’ and one driver who was not up to f1 standards.

        1. +1. I wanted him to join Williams so bad. It all made sense – except perhaps the salary.

    2. it does looks the nose is like the McLaren’s, and not a cosmetic cover as other teams are using.

  15. I think they left some of the rear end back at the factory, somebody is going to have to go fetch it.

  16. Well, this is certainly an interesting design choice, is there a minimum length of an F1 car?, I can’t think of any other reason why they would have such a massive gap, maybe they are trying for super cooling capabilities for the engine?

    Certainly one of the strangest looking F1 cars, i’ve ever seen.

    1. You think William’s 2013 car is strange? You should cast your eyes over the last few decades and take a look at the ones with six wheels or a massive fan bolted on to it’s rear end.

      1. Certainly they are, which is why I only said ONE of not THE, but surely you will agree its the strangest looking car of the last two decades

    2. Any reason? Uhm…how about for getting as much air to the diffuser as possible…? That sounds like a good reason to me …

  17. Did they accidentally fit in next year’s V6 instead of the V8? How is it possible the rear is so small? I don’t know but this thing looks like it’s something else…

    1. are you sure ?

    2. Michael Brown (@)
      19th February 2013, 19:17

      Notice that in both pictures the car is on an angle to make the rear end look larger than it actually is.

  18. PDSVA money put to a good use!!! Better than in the pocket full of holes!

  19. First they launch the car two weeks later than everyone else. And even now, they launch half a car! Where is the rear-end Williams?

    But yeah, I agree with the posters above, is there a minimum length for F1 cars? They could have made theirs shorter by atleast 15-20 cms by the looks of it. The driveshafts wouldn’t have such a steep angle then too!

  20. Why the difference in the wheel hubs?

    1. the ones at the front are covered up at the launch. seems they were hiding some kind of duct leading out of them (ScarbsF1 tweeted about that one)

  21. soundscape (@)
    19th February 2013, 9:58

    That front wing is ridonkulous.

  22. That front looks super aggressive, the nose is almost horizontal from the leading edge back, looks good.

  23. A small part of me is going to be supporting Williams in general and Valtteri Bottas in particular this year, if only because Bottas is carrying the number 17, which is my lucky number. When I was growing up, yellow was my favourite colour (it still is). And at the time, Australian touring car driver Dick Johnson used to race a yellow car, so I naturally supported him. Johnson had famously carried the number 17 since he entered touring cars full-time, and his team, Dick Johnson Racing, still use it today. Hence, the number 17 became my lucky number, because it was on a yellow car. Which is why I have a bit of a soft spot for any driver carrying the number 17 on his or her car.

    1. Mine is 8, the number Mika Hakkinen took to his first title…

      Who’s number 8 this year? It’s… Oh, Grosjean… >.<

      1. Well, with a bit of your luck he might just not hit anyone for a bit!

  24. http://img1.auto-motor-und-sport.de/Pastor-Maldonado-Williams-Formel-1-Test-Barcelona-19-Februar-2013-19-fotoshowImageNew-82a61fe-662094.jpg

    Wow… can’t believe we’ll see it racing in this state this season, the back looks like it’s completely unfinished!

  25. Everyone is talking about the rear end not being there. But the important thing is that the front end is there, because that’s the side of the car Maldonado usually crashes into people/things with.

    1. +1 XD

  26. The rear looks very bare, but it’s the front I have to get used to. It looks as if the nosecone is barely in front of the wing and the color scheme further aids that perception I think. Have to get used to this one!

  27. reminds me of the ferrari, and with flashes of speed last year..a more experienced maldonado, a promising Bottas who i have high hopes for, williams could be very interesting to watch this year. I think the only thing making this team look weaker is susie wolff.

  28. My favourite design feature is the stubby nose – that will let Pastor just bounce off barriers, walls, and other cars!!

  29. Update from Williams.

    “Yeah, we know a lot of people are talking about the stubby front end. We had to design it from Titanium, steel and Granite so when Maldonando wants to have a little crash with erm… everyone, it means we don’t have repair it. We just hose him off and send him back onto the race track”

  30. It looks good, although the rear end seems odd. The rear wing looks nice too.

  31. I Love the Pope
    19th February 2013, 13:12

    It’s ugly.

    I started watching the sport in 2010, so I’ve never had the Williams fanboy bug. They’ve always had boring cars with boring drivers as far as I’m concerned. This Bottas may be more interesting, however, certainly more than a pay driver and some executive’s wife.

    1. Maldonado’s talent might be in question. But he is anything but boring! Ask anyone (Maldonado fan or Maldonado hater) and he/she will agree to that.

  32. Looks darn fast…. with it´s rear missing, there mst be much less drag… rear wing looks evil… all in all, a great looking car and yes, it looks a lot like the ferrari… Oh and the sidepod entry look like the F150 Italia…

    I say: BLACK HORSE candidate right here!!!

  33. This picture shows exactly just how skinny the back of the car is:

    http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj544/williamsf1pics/216997copy_zps83827e8d.jpg

    Incredible!

  34. I think that I have found my favourite car of 2013, but then again I am a sucker for funky design. Something about it reminds me of that other eccentric Williams creation – the FW26 ‘walrus’. Would love to see an in-depth aero/technical analysis on this one. Either way, me likey.

  35. Awesome.

    The race numbers on the sidepods are badass…

    1. Lewisham Milton
      19th February 2013, 21:00

      They’re just bad, or ****. A golf clap and sarcastic “well done” for getting rid of the old numbers that everyone could see.

  36. It looks like a transformer half stuck in… well transformation.

  37. Reminds me a bit of a certain Brabham.

  38. Does anyone know if the rumors that the exhaust is illegal are true?

  39. Great car, very radical indeed!

    Everything seems to be missing a title sponsor, the race suits look a bit bare and there is nothing but numbers on numbers and though it looks good I can’t imagine its staying like that.

  40. Michael Brown (@)
    19th February 2013, 18:40

    That’s a fantastic rear end

  41. I’m really liking the FW35, very clean classic looking livery takig me back to the Rothmans era. If initial testing times are anything to go by it is fairly rapid out of the box too. I hope Maldonado can get to the finish line more often this year, he has the speed to get big results and I really would like to see Williams back at the pointy end again. A car that looks this good deserves some good results to go with it.

Comments are closed.