FW33 to be unveiled on February 1st

It was announced that the AT&T Williams team will show their 2011 challenger, the FW33, to the world on the 1st February at the Valencia circuit. Rubens Barrichello will be present to give the new car its first runs.

Rubens will be driving on the first day while his 2011 team-mate Pastor Maldonado will take over half-way through the second day as the team conducts their pre-season testing.

The spokeswoman from the Williams team said: "The FW33 will be in action at the first test in Valencia." It has yet to be decided as to wether the team will have a conventional launch.

As for what could be expected from the 2011 car Williams Director of Engineering Patrick Head wrote in his new column for Motorsport magazine that the FW33 is "more adventurous" than Williams' 2010 car.

Patrick said: "Rubens told the media that he thought the car looked radical, but I think it is just more adventurous than our 2010 car, and to move upwards in team order, it will need to be."

Head explained that the core chassis, suspension and transmission had been designed months ago and were either complete or in manufacture. Most of the supporting research has been completed and that the team was now designing the outer elements.

Head commented on how the team was moving away from the original flywheel system that was developed in 2008 for 2009. The team will now be running an entirely Williams-developed KERS system, with a battery storage cell. This was forced on to the team due to the difficulty in fitting a flywheel system in a Formula 1 car with a 150+kg fuel tank.

As for the continued use of the Cosworth engine Head added that he was very positive about this engine. He said that the core engine is excellent with the engine becoming more sophisticated in its drivability.

As for the 2011 drivers Head added that the team is very happy to be continuing with Rubens. Joining Rubens will be Pastor Maldonado, who won the 2010 GP2 Championship. Head made it clear that Pastor has brought some financial support to the team, but deserves his drive on merit. Overall Head was hoping to see the Williams team moved upwards during the course of the 2011 season.