Williams FW35

“[The FW35 is] a better, more refined Formula One car than the FW34 and I think everyone involved in the project can feel proud of the work they’ve done” said Williams Technical Director Mike Coughlan ahead of the season opener in Australia in 2013.

Although it was essentially an evolution of the FW34, more than four fifths of the Williams FW35 was brand new.

A new floor, gearbox, radiators, rear suspension, exhausts, and bodywork, as well as the team striving to shave a significant amount of weight in comparison with the FW34.

At the first test the FIA found part of the Williams FW35’s exhaust to be in contravention of its regulations and it needed to be removed.

This would later turn out to be an attempt at an exhaust blown diffuser and the first of a number of significant updates the team made to the FW35 in an attempt to master the exhaust/diffuser setup before the season opener in Australia.

The Williams FW35 endured a difficult start to life when, at the opening Grand Prix of the 2013 campaign in Australia, driver Pastor Maldonado declared the car ‘undriveable’ and that the developments made to the car since winter testing had been a step in the wrong direction.

What started off as a difficult car to drive appeared to remain that way, in a season when race-winner Maldonado, and recent acquisition and current GP3 champion Valtteri Bottas managed to accumulate just five points between them with a solitary top ten finish apiece.

Halfway through the season, having failed to score a single point, Williams announced that Mike Coughlan would be leaving the team with immediate effect.

This would largely be as a result of his failure to exploit the exhaust-blown diffuser that other teams were using to great effect – particularly those who shared, with Williams, Renault as an engine supplier.

His replacement would be Pat Symonds who arrived at the team having been employed as a consultant by the Virgin F1 team following an F1 ban for his part in the Renault crashgate affair (is it an ‘affair’? What is an affair? Would scandal be more appropriate? Who knows? Who cares??)