Or Alan Jones. Fantastic news, by the way. Rosberg could drive for just about anyone in a couple of years' time, it's interesting that he seems to see Williams as the place to be.

Man, lots of good news coming out of the Williams camp lately. Philips re-ups with a larger sponsorship package, Nico re-signs, and also the possibility of this Baugur group (who must be prepared to spend if they were going to be a primary sponsor) joining the team.

Go Wills!

Weber expects Hülkenberg to have signed a testcontract with Williams soon, before/around Christmas.

Another good move by Williams.

Last year Toyota supplied 70 engines to Williams (12 in the wintertime, 58 during the season) whereas the Grove based team kept supplying the latest technical information of the seamless gearbox to Toyota.

Kinoshita on the engines: ''They got the same engines as us. Eventhough they were employed diffirently. For instance: we were always driving with new engines on Friday whereas Williams tended to employ used engines (on that day of the weekend).''

Williams has been working on gearbox project for three years longer so logically they were a good step ahead in the development of it compared to Toyota. Williams was allowed to use the testbanches in Toyota's factory, which led to a close collaboration. But the people working in this department (8 systemcontrol engineers, 2 electronical engineers and 4 mechanics) were employed by Toyota, so in the end they were in charge.

The Williams gearbox wasn't copied 1:1 but the principal ideas behind it were adapted. Toyota benefited from it a lot. Kinoshita: ''We were surprised that their seamless gearbox, which is specialised in covering 305 km races, was so enormously simple (and yet so very effective - AFCA) compared to the system that we had developed.''

The Toyota boss also explains that the teams work together on a political level: ''Additional to our technical collaboration, teamboss Frank Williams has often adviced us, especially with regard to political concerns, which nowadays are an important part of the Formula 1 world. Thanks to his 30 years of experience in Formula 1, Williams turned out to be an excellent advisor for us. We're really grateful for his contribution.''

There are some other interesting points that benefit the relationship. Frank Dernie, who's a consultant in 'aerodynamic and chassis related matters' for Toyota, has obviously worked closely alongside Williams and Head in the past. Then there's Toyota-junior driver Kazuki Nakajima who was given the chance to drive the last race of the 2007 season for Williams and was not much later confirmed as the second driver for the 2008 season. Also, Williams and Head are familiar with the Japanese mentality having worked together with Honda in the past. In case Toyota decides to call it a day with their own Formula 1 team (Yamashina has been given two more years) who knows in which way the biggest car manufacturer in the world might support (or perhaps (partly) take over) Williams. There have been some rumours about this for some time.

Keep in mind Williams and Head paid quite a lot of their own money a few years back, to garantuee the existance of the team when it was in tough financial times. They are keen on gaining back this money, be it by the arrival of a new sponsor or even a shareholder (unfortunately I haven't heard about their negotiations with the Baugur group anymore). In any case, Toyota spends money as if it was coming from the tap and considering the close relationship the two teams already have (as well as Toyota's dissapointing results in Formula 1 overall), this quickly makes you think of the famous 1 + 1 = 3 sum. One also musn't forget that Head and Williams are not particularly one of the youngest teamprinciples around and they're determined to garantuee the continuity of the team for sure.

Another great informative post AFCA, thanks

Indeed a good read. Although i can't see Toyota completely taking over Williams. I don't think frank will allow that unless he thinks he is getting to old. A big share is possible though.

great post AFCA.

Who would be a likely successor to take over Williams when Frank & patrick move on? Are they in search of someone that doesn't exist?

I think in the end, they may be forced to sell to a company or car manufacturer (and Toyota seems like a great fit for them).

So, now launch, any ideas about the roll-out of the new car?

Williams has postponed the launch of the FW30 by a week. It was a originally planned Rosberg and Nakajima would be testing with the new car in Jerez from the 14th till the 16th, but they'll have to drive the FW29B once more.

Michael: ''It was always an operating schedule on the limit. Before we rush bringing the car to Jerez, we rather carefuly prepare ourselves (with the new car) for the test after that in Valencia.''

So next week at Jerez the main work will be set-up related driving without traction control and engine braking. But the new gearbox will already be tested and it's known it should last for four races from now on: ''No problem for us'', Michael reassures.

''We've already built the 2007 gearbox on the basis of the 2008 regulations. The gears were already 12 mm strong. Therefore we have an advantage over the others in this area. We're already in the 'second phase', trying to make lighter what, as a consequence of the longer life-span, we had to add on in weight.''

''This lighter version of the gearbox is being tested on the testbenches in the Toyota factory in Köln since September.''

On thing is certain about the new car, like the MP4-23 and TF108 it will have a longer wheelbase.

I am pretty damned excited about seeing the new Williams car. It's the car I am most looking forward too.

That is very interesting news regarding the gearbox; did Williams have any gearbox related failures last year during race weekends?

It was certainly significantly more reliable.

Sam Micheal said in his interview with Scarbs in November published on the Autosport web site:

So Williams put in a new gearbox for 2007, and it was a joint development program with Toyota. Luca Marmorini is the Toyota head engine guy.

The Williams 2007 gearbox was a second generation gearbox: the 2006 was the first generation. The 2006 was unreliable, evidently partly due to the lack of time in finding an engine for the team (the Cosworth was used in 2006).

Toyota had no failures in 2007 with the gearbox, although a couple of times the no loss mode was turned off. Scarb's article from the same source, with Paul Vasselon, mentions the gearbox effort with Williams: I presume the third generation gearbox for 2008 would be close to state of the art, although I had read that in 2007 Williams chose an aluminium casing rather than a carbon and titanium or an entire titanium construction. Williams said they went the aluminium casing (this is from my memory) because it was cheaper and the weight penalty was under 1kg. Maybe it was around 300 grams I think, but I don't clearly recall. Most top F1 teams used as much carbon as they can as its lighter, and then they used Titanium in the areas where metal is mandatory (for attaching the gears I presume). I think Toyota used a titanium casing for their 2007 gearbox. I am not sure what Williams will use in 2008 - I suspect titanium as they can now afford the extra expense since they have better sponsorships now.

The WilliamsF1 team looks set to announce a major new deal prior to the start of the 2008 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season in March.

Apperantly a third interest in the Grove-based operation has been sold to Icelandic investment company, Baugur, which has had dealings with the squad for a number of years through its Hamleys toy-shop brand.

Rumours have been circulating at the Autosport International Show and it is thought an announcement could be made very soon.

Wow, that would be good news for Sir Frank and Patrick. As Eddie Jordan said after Peter Sauber sold his operation to BMW, the days of being able to own your own successful operation have passed. With more spending power Williams might be competitive again - but I don't see how an investment company could provide the same level of spending and support power as an automotive company could. Maybe they will try to sell their share with the rest of Williams to an auto company?

Williams to celebrate 30 years in F1
Announce differing liveries and FW30 debut

Today, to inaugurate the start of Williams’ 30th year of Formula One, the team will unveil the first of six winter test liveries designed to celebrate a sequence of landmarks that will take place when the Championship gets underway in March later this year.

As the two FW29B interim cars roll out at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit to start the team’s preparation and testing for 2008, the car livery will include references to the company’s 30th year of racing and its 500th entry in a Formula One Grand Prix, a milestone that will be recorded at the Turkish Grand Prix this season. In addition, the team will record its 50,000 racing lap during the forthcoming year, potentially during the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona assuming both FW30s demonstrate a complete finishing record to this point in the season.

In addition to these company milestones, the Monaco Grand Prix will be Frank Williams’ 600th Formula One Grand Prix as an entrant, and with a personal record that will span 39 years (and only 23 races missed in almost four decades), he will become the sport’s longest enduring entrant, surpassing the record of the legendary Enzo Ferrari.

The team will release its second winter livery at the Valencia test next week, which is also scheduled to be the first run for the team’s 2008 race car, the FW30, which will make its track debut on Tuesday, January 22, 2008.

In total, six themed liveries will be run across the two month winter testing campaign in Spain prior to the team’s full racing colours being released prior to the season’s inaugural race in Melbourne, Australia on March 16, 2008.

Baugur denied the rumour officially when it first cropped up after a news item in Auto Motor und Sport. The rumour is intensifying though.

The company has mostly invested in the fashion and grocery business in Denmark, Iceland and the UK.

Baugur's majority owner, Jon Asgeir Johannesson, is a car nut and around 4-5 years ago he raced regularly in the local Rotax Max Kart championship here in Iceland.

Love the six color idea and the first plain dark blue one is terrific.

The Dutch clothing company McGregor (which first entered F1 sponsoring Spyker) is a new sponsor of Williams and they replace Puma. Soon the deal will be made official.

Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima returned to the test track today for the second day of testing at the Spanish circuit of Jerez. In drier conditions than those experienced yesterday, the pair continued preparation work with the interim FW29B cars ahead of the roll out of the 2008 car, the FW30, which will hit the test track next week in Valencia.

After a successful day working through systems checks, Nico covered 81 laps of the 4.428km track, while team mate Kazuki covered 68, a total of just over 650kms.

Test Times:

Nico Rosberg: 1:19.755 (50 / 81) 4th
Kazuki Nakajima: 1:20.525 (45 / 68) 10th

Nico Hulkenberg will join the team tomorrow, taking over duties from Nico Rosberg for the final day of the test.

Good time from Rosberg. Do we know what day next week the new car will be shown?

Tuesday the 22nd, Testing using the FW29B is going very well at the moment.
The team will release its second of six winter livery on the new FW30 car.

Well Williams have done what they are best at - keeping a low profile and working on the car at their best all through the winter . In fact this year they took a rather extreme step of not having a "launch" ... I thought it was a major PR event and for a team like Willy , they would be happy to have some PR for their sponsors or to attract new ones . Anyway thats done now ...

I am looking forward to the new car . On track the times would be more important than how it looks . All the talk about revolutions , race wins etc can be misleading . I don't care what it looks like as long as its quite a bit quicker and better than the FW29. Look at the RBR4 machine - it looks mostly like the same car they had last year and they are stressing its an evo of the previous model but for all that we know it could be the third or fourth best package this year ....so lets wait for some track time on the new car.

I'm pretty confident that they can make a good step up. They have a relaible and proven powertrain and have added to the aero department by getting 2 senior aerodynamicists, one from Renault, the other from McLaren, as well as a top track engineer in Rod Nelson. I still think they should be launching earlier than they usually do, they're always one of the last.

The AT&T Williams team completed the first test of the year today. Kazuki Nakajima was joined by the team's new test driver, Nico Hulkenberg, on the third and final day of the test session in Jerez, Spain.

On an intermittently wet track, the pairing continued with the team's off season development programme, carrying out systems checks, work on the new ECU and transmission evaluation.

With the pre-season testing period entering its most rigourous stage prior to the first race in Australia in March, the team head straight to Valencia for three further days of running next week during which time the FW30 will make its debut.

Test Times:
K Nakajima: 1:20.758 (57 laps) 9th
N Hulkenberg: 1:24.023 (65 laps) 13th

Team Quotes:
Sam Michael, Technical Director:
At Jerez we concluded a three day test with all our drivers working on the reliability of the 2008 transmission. We also continued work on electronic set-up for the standard ECU. Next week we'll be in Valencia with our new car.

Kazuki Nakajima:
This week's testing was quite badly affected by the weather conditions. It was wet for most of day one and then for half of the session today as well. Apart from that, it's been a productive three days for us. I've tried out many new things on the interim car which will be transferred over to the FW30, but I still need to do some work to get everything right. We're running the new car next week and I'm really looking forward to driving it for the first time.

I thought Hulkenberg was supposed to be good? What's with his times. I know it's testing for ~4 second gap is just too much.

the track was largely drying when Hulkenberg drove, changing, drying conditions contextualises all times from yesterday

Saw this in the updated Tech analysis of the Toyota car; I assume that this will effect the Williams unit too:

Source

AT&T Williams today confirmed that McGregor, the premium fashion brand, is to be the official clothing partner of the team for the next three seasons. The partnership will involve the design and tailoring of completely new team uniform for the race and test teams, as well as a bespoke working clothing design for the company's 520 factory-based staff.

McGregor is part of the McGregor Fashion Group BV, which has grown to become one of the most successful fashion houses in the higher end market segment since it was founded in 1993. The McGregor Group comprises the McGregor, Gaastra, Dimaggio and Adam Menswear brands and employs 600 staff in Europe, has 3,000 multi-brand stores, 190 concessions and more than 100 own brand shops worldwide.

The McGregor brand will make its debut within the team environment with the opening test sessions of 2008. The fashion group's logo will feature on the cars, the drivers' helmets and all team clothing. The new team uniform, which will be launched at the Australian Grand Prix in March, includes caps, trousers, jackets, shirts, jumpers, shoes, belts and luggage and will be designed using Williams' traditional racing colours of blue and white. Also sporting the familiar colour combination will be the "Williams F1 by McGregor" spring collection for the consumer marketplace. Inspired by the new team kit, the exclusive collection will be launched in store in March 2008.

In addition to the design and supply of team uniform and the Williams F1 by McGregor range, the Dutch manufacturer will also be producing a Williams retro collection. Influenced by colours, logos and designs from the team's history, the iconic collection will be a commemorative reflection of the team's sporting heritage, launched in a landmark year when Williams will celebrate 500 races and 50,000 raced laps in its thirtieth year in Formula One.

Of the new partnership, Jan Paul ten Hoopen, McGregor's Commercial Director, commented, "McGregor is proud to be the official clothing partner of one of the most successful Formula One teams. As Formula One's only team that exists solely to race, Williams, as McGregor, is a team associated with drive, enterprise, a strong heritage and a great chance of success in the future."

He continued, "This partnership will enable us to place our continuous international growth on the fast track in countries such as the UK, France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Portugal while giving our brand image a powerful boost."

Frank Williams, Team Principal of the AT&T Williams team, said, "I firmly stand behind McGregor's core ethos: No Future without Ambition. We are very proud to have as a partner such an inspired and international lifestyle brand as McGregor and I look forward to the undoubted contribution they will make to the highest standard of presentation for our personnel in the Formula One paddock this season and beyond."

Low res pic of the new car on page 59 of the Winter Testing thread. The car seems heavily influence by last year's McLaren at a glance but we need higher res pics to make out a lot of the detail, especially with the dark colour scheme they are running.

Again, stealing from the Winter Testing Thread, a few more pics:

Link

I like the integration of the camera into the flow conditioner above the front suspension.

The front wing is also extremely bendy and the low nose allows the bridge wing to be flatter than last seasons.

The rear has also been slimmed down.

The car looks good!

Yep, the FW30 looks good.
The shade of blue is the same they ran in testing last year. I thought everyone knew this wont be their race-livery.

Talk about low-key launch. 1 lap on a foggy day with an interim livery. How very Williams.
(it's a dark blue Mclaren, which is nice).

Wasn't meant to be a launch.

Oh. It's a non-launch.

I looked at it again. Dolphin-like form makes an impression. It may form a good basis for a surprise start, but I wonder if that can hold in the long run.

Williams Toyota FW30 Takes to the Track

The AT&T Williams team's 2008 season race car, the Williams Toyota FW30, took to the track at the Valencia circuit in Southern Spain this morning for a shakedown prior to starting its winter testing in earnest tomorrow.
 
The team's newly recruited test driver, Nico Hulkenberg, is taking on the responsibility of shaking down the new race car before regular race driver, Nico Rosberg and his team-mate, Kazuki Nakajima, share first assessments of the car from tomorrow onwards.
 
The car represents a clear engineering philosophy of iteration and progressive development from the competitive and reliable platform of last season's FW29. The team's Technical Director, Sam Michael explains, "With four years of regulation stability, we have a good basis to be progressive about the development of this season's car. With a good reliability record last year, we have been able to build on this quality while also turning some of our attention to clear performance objectives."
 
With an established technical team, the car is the product of a stable engineering base as well as settled regulations and for the first time since 2004, continuity of engine supplier with Toyota meaning that drivetrain installation has not been a resource-demanding aspect of the design process. With 8,000 mechanical releases and 35,000 manhours of design time, it is remarkable to consider that much of this work will be rendered obsolete in the next eight to twelve months.
 
The car retains the general structural and layout philosophy of its forebear, featuring a zero keel and dual pillar rear wing, with notable visual changes including a three plane front wing, increased sidepod top cooling louvres in view of the altered orientation of the water radiators, the sidepod and side impact sails and the increased cockpit sides for compliance with the new driver safety requirements.
 
"Our focus has been on performance as well as refining our packaging and weight distribution. We are designing a tidier car with a higher standard of build quality. The FW30 should represent a good step forward when all of the many small areas of attention and improvement are brought together in the overall package," said Michael.
 
Prior to the roll-out of the FW30, the team has also spent considerable time and made good headway in attending to a number of the other regulation changes, such as the integration of a standard ECU and the outlawing of traction control. As much as a busy winter for mechanical designers and CFD aerodynamicists, specialist code and software engineers have been busy re-writing strategies that will govern the management of the car's main components, from the new seamless shift gearbox to the differentials and engine. The FW30 is also biofuel compliant in order to meet the new season requirement that all race fuels contain 5.75% biomatter. Having worked in tandem with its fuel partner, Petrobras, the team was the first to use biofuel as part of a Formula One demonstration run in downtown Rio de Janeiro last October.
 
For its roll-out, the FW30 is liveried in the second of a campaign series of six designs celebrating Williams' thirty years in Formula One. Reflecting the collegiate nature of Formula One, which requires a wide variety of technical and financial contributors, a committed and skilled workforce and the essential support of the viewing public, this week's design communicates Williams' thanks to its staff and its fans.
 
Every name of the current 519-member Williams workforce will be carried on the FW30-01 this week, and the company also thanks the 85 brands whose sponsorship identities have graced Williams race car liveries since January 15, 1978, when the Williams FW06took to the track for the Argentine Grand Prix in the hands of Alan Jones. These sponsorship revenues have supported Williams' purity of purpose as an independent racing organisation and the company is indebted to these commercial partners, past and present. The livery also reflects the team's wish to thank the public at large for three decades of support and goodwill which has seen Williams develop a pre-eminent international sporting reputation.
 
The FW30 will be tested by Nico Rosberg on Tuesday and Wednesday with Kazuki Nakajima taking the wheel for the last day of the test. Next week, for the first test at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, the team will unveil the next in a series of livery messages prior to the team's 2008 season racing colours being revealed for the Australian Grand Prix on March 16.













(Thanks to Skan)

Looks good but that hardly matters . Heres hoping Williams have taken a sizable step forward .

I am hoping that Williams atleast become close to a second faster, so as to fight regularly within the top group or atleast the semi top group. It is difficult to tell now who will be in the top group though.

My expectations are Mclaren and Ferrari in the top tier with BMW beating them occassionally and Renault right behind them. If Williams can join these guys and beat Toyota/Honda/RedBull then it would be amazing.


--
Regarding your signature: Vijay Mallya is Indian Briatore, so there will be 2 Briatores in the paddock now. :-)

that was exactly he situation last year. remember they will run cars 7 and 8.
for sure they must improve and that means challange for 3rd in the wcc.

Ok, can I pls have:

Squid with Black Bean Sauce
Sizzling Chicken with Fresh Mango
Mixed Vegetables
and a Plain Boiled Rice

thanks.

(Did I get that right?....)

I don't like the look of the car, the boxy aero work on the sidepods is awful. Hopefully what it lacks in aesthetic appeal it makes up for in efficiency. I do wish they'd adopt this paint job as the racing livery, however.

This livery is great, but it's highly unlikely it will remain...

I just hope this car will be good. I want Williams to have a decent season.

Only because of Macca's demise in terms of points, so they should be 9 and 10. Which is about right for them - 5th in the champ would be a good aim, behind Mclaren, Ferrari, BMW and Renault (not necessarily in that order, but those are the teams I see challenging for wins). I think Hamilton will be champion, incidentally; he came damn close this year and to be honest I can only see Mclaren improving over the winter. I think Kimi will come 2nd, with Alonso third for Renault, with Heikki behind Massa in 5th, and the Beemer drivers coming next, before Rosberg in 8th, Piquet in 9th and possibly Jenson Button in 10th (due to Honda coming good via Ross Brawn). Depends how right Ferrari have got the 2008 car, and whether the top team's definitive aero package is good enough.

Its a McLaren.
After the hefty FIA fine McLaren decided to shop around for offers, and since Williams have gone to the pits they decided their best chances lay with buying the MP4-22 and modifying the nose. Great! Everybody wins. Williams will remain in the doldrums of the midfield, and McLaren recoups some of its imposed losses. Nice

I'm hoping the sidepod/endplate is just a nice gesture and not an indication it would otherwise by blank.

Compliments to you making such a nice looking car