Williams launch Formula 1 2022 car: British team reveal new blue livery for crucial season

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Williams reveal blue livery for 2022, and are set for shakedown in ‘real’ car later on Wednesday; Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi will drive the FW44, kickstarting a new era after George Russell’s move to Mercedes By Matt Morlidge

Last Updated: 02/15/22 2:49pm

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Williams have unveiled their new car – the FW44 – for the 2022 season, and drivers Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi are hoping they will be higher up the grid this time around.

Williams have unveiled their new car – the FW44 – for the 2022 season, and drivers Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi are hoping they will be higher up the grid this time around.

Williams have revealed an updated blue color scheme for their 2022 Formula 1 car, kicking off a new era with a nod to their past.

The British team, one of F1’s most famous and historic manufacturers, is looking to maximise the much-changed rules to leap up the order this year after an improved-placed finish in 2021, and start the new season with a new driver in Alex Albon after George Russell’s move to Mercedes.

Albon and team-mate Nicholas Latifi were both present as the sport’s 16-time world champions became the sixth team to launch their season with a first look at a new car on Tuesday.

The team say it was only a ‘livery reveal’ and so their FW44 – which, as always, takes the initials of their legendary testing founder Sir Frank Williams – is expected to look different come the start of pre-season next week.

Their new colours, however, are here to stay. After mostly mixing blue and white in previous years, Williams revealed a 2022 car with different shades of blue, as well as dashes of red to highlight their British history.

“If it’s as fast as it looks, that will be very, very good,” said team boss Jost Capito. The team added that it ’embodies the exciting new era of the Williams brand, whilst still retaining the classic team spirit’

Williams has done a Red Bull and launched its smart new livery on generic F1 showcar from last year. We await the real FW44 at Barcelona testing. pic.twitter.com/PcPTg1QVk6

— Mark Hughes (@SportmphMark) February 15, 2022

The real Williams is set to run in a shakedown run this afternoon. So hopefully we’ll see it soon.

— Mark Hughes (@SportmphMark) February 15, 2022

After three seasons at the bottom of F1 standings in 10th – during which they scored a combined eight points – Williams rebounded back to eighth last year.

Their final tally of 23 points was aided immensely by back-to-back double points finishes in Hungary and Belgium, and it was in Spa where they scored their first podium in six years as Russell was classified as second in a Grand Prix that was abandoned due to the rain.

With Russell replacing Valtteri Bottas after three years at Williams to join Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, Albon steps into his shoes and will be expected to lead the team into a new era.

Albon has two F1 seasons under his belt, one and a half of which alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull, scoring two podiums before he was axed in favor of Sergio Perez at the end of the 2020 season.

“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,” said Albon, whose team-mate Latifi has scored seven points in two seasons .

“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.”

Williams will hope their Mercedes-powered FW44 gives them a better chance of consistently fighting for the top-10, let alone making it through Q1 in qualifying.

The first three-day pre-season test starts on February 23 in Barcelona, ​​before another in Bahrain on March 10. The season then gets underway with the Bahrain GP on March 20.

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