Whether the Williams team returns to its former championship glories, only time will tell, but such is the extent of the regulation changes for 2009 that the team has an opportunity to move up the order.

There are very few carry-over parts from last year's car – only the fuel-flap activators, some hydraulic manifolds and the gearbox internals – and the FW31 is conceptually very different to any Williams of the last 30 years.

"This could be our most important season for a decade," says Frank Williams. "The rule changes give Williams F1 a chance to re-establish itself."

The new rules were ratified in October 2007, and since then the design of the FW31 has been paramount in the minds of the team's design, aero and engineering departments, led by Williams F1's Director of Engineering, Patrick Head and Technical Director, Sam Michael.

Work on the car started in November 2007 and the first wind tunnel test took place between Christmas and New Year the following month. Thereafter, the amount of resource placed on the FW31 increased progressively and by mid-2008 this car was the sole focus of the R&D department at Grove.

The three main points of focus were aerodynamics, the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) and the return of slick tyres.

Compared to last year, the front wings are lower (75mm) and wider (1800mm), with driver-adjustable flaps; the rear wing is taller (level with the top of the airbox) and narrower (750mm); the diffuser has been moved back by 350mm so that it's level with the rear wing; all extraneous winglets, chimneys and bargeboards have been outlawed.


"Once we'd read the rulebook, the first thing we did was look at the geometric differences between last year and this year," says Sam Michael. "We legalised a car, put it in the wind tunnel and looked at the numbers. The loss in downforce was enormous – about 50 percent – and we immediately saw these rule changes as a great opportunity to gain an advantage."

One of the team's two wind tunnels was immediately dedicated to the development of the 2009 car. Head of Aerodynamics Jon Tomlinson and Chief Designer Ed Wood turned their teams' attention to the layout of the FW31.

The positions of the gearbox, engine, wheels and fuel tank had to be signed off by mid-May, which meant all the fundamentals of the car's design had to be decided during the busiest part of the 2008 racing season. Consequently, the development of last year's car, the FW30, quickly took a back seat.

"The last upgrade on the FW30 was for the German Grand Prix," says team driver Nico Rosberg. "It made it tough at the latter races of the season, knowing that we were going to find it hard to be competitive, but we had to do what was right for the long-term interests of the team."

D.B. © CAPSIS International

 

I'm looking forward to seeing if Williams can shake things up a bit. I predict a definite shift in power this year, and not necessarily from Ferrari to McLaren...