Williams FW43


The Williams FW43 is a Formula One car constructed by Williams to compete in the 2020 Formula One World Championship. The car is being driven by Nicholas Latifi and George Russell, who are in their first and second year with the team respectively. Jack Aitken, Roy Nissany, Jamie Chadwick and Dan Ticktum will act as reserve and development drivers for the team. The car was designed by David Worner and Jonathan Carter, both of whom are in their first year in the team having previously worked with Red Bull and Renault respectively. The car was planned to make its competitive début at the 2020 Australian Grand Prix, but this was delayed when several races were postponed or cancelled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The FW43 made its début at the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix.
The pandemic also prompted the delay of technical regulations that had been planned for introduction in. Under an agreement reached between teams and the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, 2020-specification cars—including the FW43—will see their lifespan extended to compete in 2021.

Initial design

The car was designed by David Worner and Jonathan Carter, both of whom are in their first year in the team having previously worked with Red Bull and Renault respectively. Williams have described the FW43 as being an evolution of its predecessor, believing the FW42 was a good basis on which to design the FW43.
Several major changes were made regarding the side pods. Firstly the car introduced a steep slope from the top of the side pod to the floor to as to encourage the air to reach the floor of the car. This has drawn parallels with the side pod designs seen on the Red Bull RB8 and Sauber C31 seen in. Williams have also reduced the size of the air inlets on the front of the side pods and have flattened the outer surface of the side pod. The wing mirror and wing mirror supports have also seen aerodynamic refinement.

Pre-season

After experiencing their worst season in the team's history, which included missing the first two days of pre-season testing in 2019, testing for the 2020 season went much more smoothly for Williams. George Russell commented that he believed that Williams still had the slowest car after the team finished last in the preceding season, but that it was an improvement on its predecessor, the FW42.
The FW43 appeared in pre-season testing with a red, white and blue livery branded with the logo of the team's title sponsor, telecommunications company ROKiT. However in late May, prior to the start of the delayed 2020 season, the team announced that the title sponsorship arrangement with ROKiT had been terminated and that a new livery would be revealed before the first race.

Competition history

Russell and Latifi qualified 17th and 20th respectively for the season-opening. Russell retired from the race with a fuel pressure issue, having been running in 13th place, whilst Latifi finished last of the running cars in 11th. Deputy team principal Claire Williams remarked that the team's performance marked a "turning point" in comparison to their difficult campaign. Russell started 11th at the after a rain-affected qualifying session, narrowly missing out on Q3. This marked Williams' first Q2 appearance since the 2018 Brazilian Grand Prix and the team's best starting grid position since the 2018 Italian Grand Prix.

Complete Formula One results

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