The pair completed the Williams FW44 shakedown yesterday at Silverstone in the wet after the Grove team unveiled the 2022 livery on a show car.
Although the rules limited this first contact to 100 km and the day was characterized by rain, both drivers admitted some concern about visibility with the new 18-inch tires and the deflectors mounted on the tires.
Latifi said: “The visibility is definitely worse in some corners. I think it just depends on the type of corner, how far you are steering in the corner and where your gaze is pointing. You think it will just be something that everyone will have to get used to. But there there are certainly cases in which we will see less “.
Albon thinks that racing on a traditional track like Silverstone will not be a problem, but that the citizens could represent a difficulty from this point of view.
Williams FW44
Photo by: Williams
“On ‘open’ tracks, with the blind spots of the tire and the deflectors, it takes away some of the immediate view when you are cornering. So you end up looking over the bend. However, on a citizen, there is only a wall, so no you can see a lot around it. I think this will be more difficult. “
“And also in battle I think it will be a bit more complicated to figure out exactly where the front wing and the tires are. It could be a bit more difficult.”
While the shakedown and conditions did not allow either Williams driver to understand much about the 2022 car, Latifi suggested that he had already felt above all the weight difference compared to those of the previous generation.
“It was really hard to get any kind of feel out of the car, even though you definitely feel it’s very different from last year,” he said. “It feels like driving a heavier car.”
“But beyond that, I was nowhere near the limit. We were just trying to figure out that everything worked, making sure the seat was comfortable and considering any small adjustments to make. So I don’t want to put too much weight on this first feeling.”
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