How new Williams FW45 draws inspiration from F1's frontrunners

And, while there are no real surprises in the design layout, it is interesting to see how the team has taken inspiration from elsewhere on the grid in an effort to re-establish itself as part of the chasing pack.

At the front of the car, there's a change in nose design, as the tip has been extended forward to meet with the lead element of the front wing's main plane and invokes a similar feel to what we saw from Ferrari during 2022, as it allows some room to expose the wing's leading edge.

Shut lines on the nose suggest that there's an upper vanity panel in place here though, with a smaller internal crash structure. This would allow the team to make changes during the course of the season, should a more aerodynamically efficient solution arise, and is something we saw most of the field do in 2022 in any case.

Scrolling rearward down the car and the most visually different aspect of all of the 2023 challengers is going to be the sidepods, as while there were four or five different interpretations at the start of last season, it quickly became clear that some were simply better than the others.

Notably, the downwash style concept, championed by Red Bull and Alpha Tauri from the start of last season is the one that the bulk of the teams have been drawn towards, with Williams no different in that respect.

Williams FW44 side view comparison2

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

Williams had already made that switch during the course of 2022, with a new sidepod arrangement just part of the large update package that arrived at the British Grand Prix (above).

One of the major hurdles faced in making that switch was the internal make-up of the FW44 though, with the radiators, electronics and other coolers housed within the sidepods positioned in a way that didn't allow them to take full advantage of the new bodywork shape.

A ground-up redesign for the FW45, including what will likely be a repositioning of the SIPS (Side Impact Protection Spars) has allowed their designers to optimise the bodyworks topography, which is especially notable in the scale of the undercut, as it had previously been abbreviated by the physical limitations imposed by those internal components.

The design introduced in 2022 held more similarity overall to the Red Bull concept, but it did feature an inlet more in line with the one seen on the Ferrari F1-75, a feature that's been carried over, albeit improved as part of the more aggressive undercut design.

Williams FW45 sidepod comparison

Photo by: Williams F1

Following on from the inspiration taken from Red Bull and Ferrari, Williams has this year seemingly set its sights on Alpine's design, as it also moved the needle on the Red Bull downwash concept in its own direction in 2022.

As part of this, we find an elongated ridge along the shoulder of the sidepod's flank, which also creates a more defined channel for the airflow to follow as it travels along the ramped section towards the rear of the floor and the coke bottle region.

As you'd expect, there's also been a change in the design of the engine cover too, as they've applied the shelf-like approach that we saw many take during the course of last season, which also enables a downwashing rear cooling outlet to be employed.

Supplementing the rear outlet is a gilled cooling panel on the side of the engine cover, which will undoubtedly have various iterations depending on demand during the course of the season, just as was the case last season.

On top of the engine cover, we see that Williams has once again opted for just a short shark fin section toward the rear of the assembly.

There's some nice detailing around the mirrors and halo, with the former sporting an elongated fin on the sidepods shoulder as part of their mirror stay assembly, while the tail section of the halo has been treated to a triangular-shaped vane similar to the Ferrari and Mercedes solutions seen in 2022.

The FW45's floor also seems to derive inspiration from the front end of the pack, with cues from
Ferrari, including the notched outer floor fence (lower left inset) and rear cutout with a wing jutting out from the underside (lower right inset), whilst there are also details you'd normally associate with Red Bull, including the edge Gurneys and the tapered rear section.

Williams FW45 comparison

Photo by: Williams F1