Williams Martini Racing Team become the first team to reveal their 2015 car

(Williams Martini Racing Team)

The Williams Martini Racing Team have become the first Formula One outfit to reveal images of the car that they hope will challenge Mercedes dominance. 

The Grove based outfit had their season in years in 2014 when they finished the year in third place in the championship.

The FW37 is the second car to be powered by Mercedes Benz and speaking to the new car, Williams Martini Racing’s Chief Technical Officer Pat Symonds stated:

‘The notion for the FW37 was to look closely at the FW36 and its performances, We then went about recognising what had worked well and identifying and resolving the areas that we felt needed to be improved. Although the aerodynamics of the car were impressive there is always room for improvement particularly as we handle the new 2015 nose regulations.’

The Grove based outfit secured nine podium finishes in 2014 including a double podium at the season finale in Abu Dhabi. The team retain the same line up as last season with one difference, joining Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas will be Susie Wolff who steps up to the of test and reserve driver having been promoted over the winter.

The FW37 design comes from the success of the FW36 however the team have confirmed that the design for the 2015 car came along before the team’s 2014 car ever raced.

Symonds went on to say:

‘The desire to beat Ferrari to third place in the Constructors’ in 2014 meant we pushed our development through to late autumn, but the size of the team is now at a point where it was able to sustain this development whilst still working on the FW37.’

With the regulations relatively stable from 2014 the team went about developing the FW36 with the additional changes necessary to meet the 2015 rules.’

Symonds who played a key role in the Renault F1 Team’s championship victories in 2005 and 2006 went on to say:

‘We felt we came up against design barriers in the FW36 and so took the opportunity to remove those barriers for the benefit of the performance. The FW36 carried a reasonable amount of ballast, so we were able to make alterations to the design for added performance without the fear of adding excessive mass.’

Williams head into this season hoping that the stability in the regulations will allow them to close the gap to reigning world champions, the Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team. Williams Martini Racing Team Principal Sir Frank Williams stated:

‘The team had a fantastic season last year, we are aiming to replicate this development over the winter and to start the 2015 season in a strong position. We have an enormously talented group of people here at Williams who want nothing more than the team to do well. This passion produced a great turn around in fortunes for the team in 2014 and everybody has worked tirelessly to continue that climb up the grid.

We have added a few more high profile names to accompany the incredibly supportive group of partners we have,’ Frank Williams added. ‘After a very strong first year with Mercedes we are looking to further develop the relationship as we look for more podiums in 2015. I feel this year will be equally as exciting as the last and look forward to seeing the car on the grid at the first race.’

© Ben Johnston 2015