With the introduction of the new era of Formula 1 single-seaters, all the teams (except Alfa Romeo) found themselves dealing with the overweight of the cars that started the 2022 season a few weeks ago.
Among these there is also Williams. The FW44 entrusted to Alexander Albon and Nicholas Latifi is over 798 kilograms of the weight limit allowed by the regulation. For this reason, the team directed by Jost Capito has decided to intervene on the livery to try to reduce the weight and return to the imposed level.
To do this, the Grove team removed some blue paint from their cars and did so already at the Australian Grand Prix staged just under 2 weeks ago at Melbourne’s Albert Park.
Looking at the comparison of the photos you find below (the new version is on the right), it is possible to notice how the FW44s are now black on the first part of the bellies starting from the vents that convey the air towards the radiators and the power unit, but also the nose (only on Albon’s car) and the rear part of the airscope, now carbon black and no longer glossy black as in the first 2 races.
The two FW44s of Albon and Latifi, during the Australian Grand Prix, also differed in the different color of the front wing. On the Thai driver’s car the wing was carbon black, while on Latifi’s it was still dark blue as it had been since the day of the presentation.
The differences between the two Williams appeared precisely at the Australian Grand Prix (comparison below with Latifi on the left and Albon on the right), but only during the race, because during free practice both FW44s had non-colored body parts. Instead, in both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, the British single-seaters appeared identical in color.
Dave Robson, head of vehicle performance for the Williams team, elaborated on the subject, talking about why Albon’s FW44 had been stripped of part of the livery already in Australia: “The desire is always to want a lighter car. paint scheme is different “.
“This was done in part to lower the impact of the paint weight on the car. I don’t know how overweight we are compared to other cars, it’s very hard to know. But being underweight is certainly a tough challenge. It’s a challenge. something we can continue to work on. “
The same method of trying to lose weight and make cars lose weight was followed by Aston Martin and McLaren. The British team, by removing parts of green paint from the body, saved 350 grams, while McLaren had already intervened in the first grand prix of the season – the one held in Bahrain – by removing orange paint from the bonnet of the MCL36.
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