First image of the 2015-spec Formula 1 is revealed

FW37 front

The first official image of the 2015-spec Formula 1 racing car has been revealed courtesy of a tweet featuring the Mercedes-powered Williams FW37.

The FW37, which was fired up for the first time earlier today by the team at their factory, appears on the front cover of February’s issue of F1 Racing magazine.

The most distinctive feature on the new race car is the radically shortened nose tip, designed to comply with the revised 2015 regulations.

FW37 side

Martini Racing continues to be the main sponsor with addition partners featuring Rexona and Hackett.

Williams are hoping the FW37 can continue the previous season’s success after numerous podium finishes which resulted in third place in the constructors’ standings.

Hopefully that elusive first win with Mercedes power and running the iconic Martini Racing colours will come in this year’s Formula 1 championship.

8 thoughts to “First image of the 2015-spec Formula 1 is revealed”

  1. Williams has become the first team to unveil images of its 2015 Formula 1 car, with its new FW37 appearing on the front cover of AUTOSPORT’s sister publication F1 Racing.

    The Mercedes-powered car, which is in the striking colour scheme of title sponsor Martini, features a much shorter nose, and more refined aerodynamics, than its predecessor.

    Williams enjoyed a major step forward in performance last year as it moved from ninth place in 2013 to finish third overall, ending the season as the main challenger to champions Mercedes.

    Technical director Pat Symonds has high hopes that the FW37 can build on the momentum of 2014, even though the Grove-based outfit does not have the budget of bigger rivals like Ferrari and Red Bull.

    Speaking to AUTOSPORT about his hopes for the season ahead, he said: “How competitive you are is a relative thing.

    “It is not just what you do, it is what your rivals do.

    “We were probably fortunate that some of our rivals had some problems last year, but let’s not take it away from what we achieved as well.

    “Yes, we had a great power unit but equally in 2013 we had the same power unit as the guys that won the constructors’ championship. So I think we had moved on a lot.

    “But we are fighting with the big boys. We are fighting with the guys who are spending twice as much money as us – and that makes it very, very difficult to go forward.

    “If we fully acknowledge all the things that brought us success in 2014, make sure we consolidate those, make sure we fully understand and incrementally move forward in all of those areas, then we can at least maintain if not improve where we are.”

    The new Williams is expected to hit the track for the first time during the opening pre-season test at Jerez in Spain that starts on February 1.

    Source: Autosport.com

  2. Williams have become the first team to reveal images of their 2015 car, the Mercedes-powered FW37.

    The new machine, once again to be raced by Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa, is an evolution of last year’s impressive FW36 which carried Williams to nine podiums and third place in the constructors’ standings – the team’s highest finish since 2003.

    “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,” said Williams’ chief technical officer Pat Symonds.

    “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.”

    Unlike last winter, which saw the teams coping with an unprecedented amount of technical change, the regulations have remained relatively stable between 2014 and 2015, allowing Williams to target crucial areas for improvement.

    “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,” explained Symonds. “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.”

    The layout phase of the new car was completed by the annual summer shutdown last August, with work on the new front bulkhead a main priority for the designers and aerodynamicists at Grove.

    “The change in regulations offered us a slight headache,” said Symonds. “The new front bulkhead and nose geometry had much more of an impact than we had initially anticipated and the effect on the aero was profound. The team have worked hard on pulling back the deficit these regulations have made for us.”

    After a strong 2014 campaign, Symonds sees no reason why Williams should not continue to progress this season: “The more rule stability there is, the closer the field gets,” he commented.

    “I hope as a team we are more capable of maintaining the forward momentum to catch Mercedes, than the teams behind us are of catching us. It’s not just about stable regulations but also about the team and every individual that works here moving forward and improving.”

    Team principal Frank Williams added: “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. 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.”

    The new car, which was fired up for the first time on Tuesday, is expected to make its public debut at the first pre-season test of the year in Jerez, Spain from February 1-4.

    Source: Formula1.com

  3. Tech insight and video – Williams FW37 launch – courtesy of Autosport.com

    Williams’s release of computer renderings of its 2015 Formula 1 car, the FW37, provided a first chance to see a nose designed to the new regulations.

    The nose, like many of those from 2014, stretches the interpretation of the rules to create the least blockage to the airflow.

    A small thumb-like tip is formed to wrap the nose into the smallest package allowed under the regulations. The resulting shape is much shorter and more square-edged than the FW36’s.

    Although the main wedge-shaped nose merges into a U-shape with the front wing pylons, similar to the 2014 Mercedes, its structure and aerodynamics differ from last year’s title-winner.

    The nose’s thumb tip meets the new rules by creating the first minimum cross section (9000mm2 at 50mm behind the nose tip) and the wide secondary leading edge forms the second regulatory cross section (20,000mm2 at 150mm behind the nose tip). This lifts the nose as clear of the front wing as possible to free up airflow under the front of the car.

    Making such a short nose meet the more stringent crash tests will have been a challenge. Not every team will have had the resources to conform to the rules with a nose at its minimum length.

    These new nose rules for 2015 not only affect the nose shape, but also the slope of chassis from the front bulkhead upwards to the towards the cockpit.

    Pat Symonds alluded to this being a problem and it is clear the front suspension is mounted as high as the structure allows, with the top wishbone being nearly level with the top of the monocoque.

    The lower wishbone is a conventional ‘A’ arm, and not the conjoined version that Mercedes ran last year, which is expected to be a much-copied design in 2015.

    Further back, similarities to the FW36 are obvious, but expect these wings and other add-on aero details to change before testing and again before the first grand prix.

    Around the rollhoop a new cooling inlet has been created, which is likely to feed a cooler for the ERS, while the sidepod openings are far smaller, being both narrower and shallower.

    The remaining sidepod shape retains the deeply undercut design of the 2014 car and tightly wraps around the back of the engine, in a trademark Williams style.

    The decrease in sidepod cooling is also reflected in the apparent loss of the permanent cooling outlets near the rollhoop, themselves unique to Williams last year.

    Little is known about under-skin changes so far, with the car running a 2015-specification Mercedes engine paired with Williams’s own gearbox.

    The FW37 seems to be a logical, if not aggressive, approach to a 2015 design – probably the most pragmatic option given Williams’s pace in late ’14.

  4. Ohh mannnn, what’s with that pimple on the end of the car’s nose!?!? F*cking F1 regulations damnit!!!! >_<
    Still, that IS a nice colour scheme, you're right!

    By the way, off topic, but I just checked out Big Rig!!! And Holy Cheesecake's it's awesome!!! DUDE! YOU CAN DRIVE IN REVERSE AT OVER 1700 MPH!!!! ONE. THOUSAND. AND. SEVEN. HUNDRED. MILES. AN. HOUR!!! IN REVERSE!!!!

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    1. Quick update, apparently it can go over 1 QUADRILLION miles per hour!!! I don’t even have a hashtag for that! F1 seems so slow all of a sudden. >_<

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