(Football news) Williams Racing, one of F1’s most famous and historic manufacturers have revealed their 2022 challenger called FW44 at their official launch. The car will be driven by Nicholas Latifi and Alex Albon who joined the team after George Russell’s departure to Mercedes AMG Racing. Both drivers were present at the unveiling as the 16 times World Champions became the sixth team to reveal their car for the upcoming season. The car is named FW44 in tribute to the manufacturer’s legendary founder Sir Frank Williams and features different shades of blue with dashes of red to highlight the team’s British history.
Speaking at the launch, team boss Jost Capito said “If it's as fast as it looks, that will be very, very good”. Williams also said that it 'embodies the exciting new era of the Williams brand, whilst still retaining the classic team spirit'. Williams have undoubtedly been on an upward trajectory, having finished rock bottom in three consecutive seasons, the British manufacturer finished eighth in 2021 with a final tally of 23 points. The team got back-to-back double points finishes in Hungary and Belgium and managed their first podium finish in six years at Spa.
It will be interesting to see how Williams cope with the departure of George Russell to Mercedes and expectations will be high from Alex Albon as he leads the team into a new era. The Thai-British driver has two Formula 1 seasons under his belt including the time he raced alongside Max Verstappen in Red Bull before he was replaced by Sergio Perez at the end of the 2020 season. Speaking at the launch, Albon said “We don't have many days before our first race and so we quickly need to understand which areas of the car are strong and where we need to make improvements. I'm sure it will be a little bit of a learning curve as we all try to learn how to get the most out of the new regulations, but the objectives and the way that we focus on this car is very much the same as in previous years."
With the FW44 powered by Mercedes, Williams will be hoping to improve on their eighth place finish from last year and go beyond Q1 of qualifying. The first three-day testing will begin on February 23rd in Barcelona before testing begins in Bahrain on March 10th ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 20th.
