Williams to rely on 'fighting spirit' to restore fortunes

LONDON: The once dominant Williams Formula One team will rely on its "fighting spirit" to make progress this season after a catastrophic 2019 campaign which yielded just a single point, team deputy Claire Williams said.

Williams — daughter of founder Frank — was speaking as the team unveiled its car for the upcoming season, the FW43, which is an evolution of last term's car.

Featuring a significantly revised livery of red, white and blue, Williams claims that "this year marks a fresh start for the team" following the worst campaign in their history.

The omens had not been good when they failed to make the start of pre-season testing in 2019.
This year, though, at least the team is scheduled to deliver its car on time for the first of two three-day tests at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya on Wednesday, prior to the new season beginning in Australia on March 15.

"We have spent time addressing our areas of weakness and have ensured that we have the right people, structures, procedures and resource in place to deliver competitive race cars," said Williams on Monday.

"We are all committed to rebuilding Williams and returning the team to competitiveness. As such, our 2020 campaign is about making progress.

"The fighting spirit is still very much alive, and this year, everyone will continue that fight until we get back to where we want to be."

The FW43 will be driven by George Russell, starting his second season in F1, and rookie Nicholas Latifi, who has replaced Alfa Romeo reserve and DTM-bound Robert Kubica.

Williams has been crowned constructors champions nine times — though the last of those was in 1997 — and produced seven individual world champions stretching from Australian Alan Jones in 1980 to Canada's Jacques Villeneuve in 1997.