Williams FW35

Launch, engine and testing

The car was launched on 19 February at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain, with the team using an interim version of the FW34 for the first test in Jerez de la Frontera. This was also the team's last season using a Renault engine before a new long term deal with Mercedes was activated for 2014.

Competition history

The FW35 was faced with a difficult debut when the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile declared its exhaust system to be illegal the day the car was launched, forcing the team to revise design. Despite this setback, Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas declared themselves to be happy with the development of the car after completing its winter testing programme.

However, the scheduled updates that the team introduced for the first race in Australia did not work as planned, with Maldonado declaring the car to be "undriveable", and that the team had set themselves back three years, though he did acknowledge that his struggles with the car may have been down to a combination of the characteristics of the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit and the team's inability to find a proper car setup for the extreme conditions experienced over the race weekend. Nevertheless, the team made the decision to revert the FW35 back to its launch specification before the race.

2013 was a massive disaster for the team, similar to 2011. The team was eliminated in Q1 mostly along with Marussia and Caterham, and failed to score a point until Hungary, when Maldonado finished 10th. Bottas, on the other hand, qualified an impressive third in Canada, but could only finish 14th, and he failed to score a point until Austin, when he finished 8th. The team finished 9th in the Constructors’ Championship, with 5 points, their equal-worst season.

Livery

The livery are almost identical to the previous season with a subtle changes. PDVSA was retained for the third and final year until Maldonado moved to Lotus the following season. As Bottas joined the team, he brought the Finnish welding equipment company Kemppi.

At the German Grand Prix, Williams celebrated their 600th Grand Prix entries; the logo was present on the sidepods.

Complete Formula One results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

References

References

1. Collantine, Keith. (28 November 2012). "Bottas joins Maldonado at Williams for 2013". Keith Collantine.
2. "Williams FW35 - F1technical.net".
3. Beer, Matt. (4 July 2011). "Williams to run Renault engines again from 2012". [[Haymarket Group.
4. (11 December 2013). "F1 teams expert enough to avoid early tyre struggles – Ross Brawn". [[Haymarket Group.
5. (9 January 2013). "No 'step nose' on Williams's 2013 car – Bottas". TopCar.za.
6. Collantine, Keith. (18 January 2012). "Williams to run 2012 car at first test". Keith Collantine.
7. Benson, Andrew. (19 February 2013). "Williams and Caterham exhaust designs deemed 'illegal'". [[BBC]].
8. Collantine, Keith. (20 February 2013). "Maldonado says FW35 is "the best car I've had"". Keith Collantine.
9. (16 March 2013). "Maldonado: Williams car is undriveable". [[Haymarket Media Group.
10. Collantine, Keith. (16 March 2013). "Maldonado: Williams are "back to three years ago"". [[Haymarket Media Group.
11. (16 March 2013). "Williams set to return to launch spec". [[Haymarket Media Group.
12. "All championship race entries, in a Williams FW35". ChicaneF1.