What the FW42 reveals about Williams's plight

The 2019 Williams finally crept onto the track for the first time just after lunch on Wednesday, where it completed a series of shakedown laps.

We are all disappointed the team had to delay testing to finish the car build but, having been there in the past myself, I know there will be no one more disappointed than the team members themselves.

From here on, Williams just has to bite the bullet, condense its test programme to fit the five days that are left and just hope reliability and the weather are on its side. Now is not the time for recriminations, now is the time to recover from a bad situation.

Williams has pushed the boat out in a few areas. Firstly, there's the front suspension, which, without knowing the geometry detail, I quite like. If someone gets this approach right, it will improve the grip level from the front tyres.

The top wishbone has been lifted, and Williams has the top wishbone pick-up just inside the wheel and tyre in a similar way to Mercedes. But the connection between the two is more faired in, making it almost invisible.

The lower wishbone has also been raised, and the combination of these means that Williams can have a fairly conventional suspension geometry that induces some negative camber when the car is compressed with the aerodynamic loads and also when the car is loaded up mid-corner.

This will give more stability out of the front tyre in high speed corners and also increase the tyre contact patch at low speed, improving the mechanical tyre grip when the aerodynamics are at their least beneficial.

With all of this comes a reduced-angle pushrod. This will increase the loads in the bottom wishbone, but I am sure that has all been taken into account as it's only a question of maths.

The wing mirrors are also interesting in that they are more or less just a flat plate mounted on a fairly long aerodynamic vane. The car also has a small turning vane over the top of the mirror. All of these little vanes are used to just modify the airflow direction just that little bit, preparing it better for what's coming further downstream.

Everyone at Williams will be in much better shape than they were last night and only a few laps of running tomorrow will let us know where they really stand

The front wing approach is in between what we have already seen from others, but it's probably closer to the Mercedes concept than the Ferrari. The front two flaps join the mandatory single-element central section and the chord lengths of the five flaps reduce as they go rearwards.

Interestingly, it looks like the slot gaps between each of the flaps are bigger than what we have seen in the past. This is to make sure that the front wing doesn't stall too catastrophically when it gets close to the ground. It will still happen, but with these wider slot gaps recovery will be earlier.

The engine cover looks a little bulbous but I think that is because the sidepod sides and top are drawn starting from the front of the radiator ducts and the central section of the bodywork is drawn from the rear radiator exits. Where they meet up, they have been connected and that looks a little strange as it is also where the halo blends downwards into the body line.

Williams has had a tough week, but let's be positive. Tonight, everyone in the team will be in much better shape than they were last night and only a few laps of running on Thursday will let us know where this car really stands.

Jake Boxall-Legge on the FW42's basic but promising aero

Despite the reports of inner turmoil, manufacturing difficulties and strife, Williams worked all night to get the car to Barcelona and put it all together. A hasty seat fit for George Russell preceded lunch, before the British driver edged his way out on track to put the first lap on the team's 2019 charge.

After an awful 2018, Williams really needed a season to get back on track and climb up from the bottom of the pack. But it's been afforded no such luxury, and the start to 2019 has already been a difficult road. It's not quite as catastrophic as past outfits turning up to the first round with a completely untested car, but in an era where the teams operate at the highest level of professionalism, it's a complete misstep.

Ultimately, the team has a lot of work to do in the second test, as, on the face of it, it's a car that needed longer to gestate.

Aerodynamically, the FW42 doesn't have the same level of complexity as its rivals; the front wing probably fits into the 'conventional' camp, featuring the mandatory five elements without the same level of curvature as its counterparts. Each flap is of largely the same span, so there's going to be plenty of consistency with airflow attachment - the top two in particular resemble large machetes, presumably in an effort to hack its way through the field.

But there's no curvature at the inboard portion of the wing to manage the vortex at the neutral section earlier, meaning it's up to the final three flaps to work with that. What's interesting is that the flap adjuster part of the wing is aggressively angled to poke flow outward around the tyres, with a small square cutout at the top corner of the endplate to assist with that further. That, coupled with the outwardly-curved endplate, contributes to a reasonably rudimentary focus on developing outwash.

The nose design is very much similar to last year's car, with slots featuring in the mounting pylons to slip some extra airflow under the car. There's also an S-duct similarly positioned to last season's version, opening where the suspension wishbones begin - and the wishbones bring their own curious design cues.

Those upper wishbones mount in a similar fashion to Mercedes' 'horn' attachment, although Williams's interpretation seems a little more highly-mounted, presumably opening up the space in between the suspension elements - as the steering arm appears down the centre between the wishbones. These are kept from creating a blockage to the sidepod inlets, which are another example of the highly-positioned apertures prevalent on this year's grid.

Behind them, the bargeboards appear to be quite basic. The main area comprising of two large, interlinked panels with another mounted behind, but there are a number of additions that keep it interesting. There's a gaggle of closely-mounted horizontal fins at the leading edge, carefully guiding the airflow around the front face, while the floor section features a collection of slots to straighten up everything moving towards the underside.

It's great to finally see Williams make its track debut after such a difficult winter, but there's still so much for the team to do

The sidepod turning vanes are also interesting. They feature a number of slats, with the middle pair extended below the ones behind to manage the flow over the sidepods and undercut. Also in that area are quite possibly the strangest set of mirrors on the grid; almost completely flat, they curl around and are bounded by a hood over the top, almost to assist the rest of the area with outwashing airflow.

There's a big attempt at sculpting the bodywork at the rear, resembling Mercedes' geometry from last season - in which flow washes down as the bodywork begins to taper inwards to build a little more pressure differential in the floor at the point at which the diffuser begins to open. It's very tight, with plenty of free air afforded to the suspension components as the bodywork is kept from flaring out too dramatically.

Slots in the floor have been included, and are very large and prominent - working as much airflow away from the rear wheels as possible.

A conventional rear wing features twin mountings, and small bulges in the mounting pylons could suggest the addition of a monkey seat here in the future. Strakes at the bottom of the endplates offer a final gambit in cleaning up flow from the rear of the car, while the flared section suggests an attempt to add a little more upwash - perhaps looking to find a little extra downforce.

It's great to finally see Williams make its track debut after such a difficult winter, but there's still so much for the team to do. The car looks underdeveloped in areas, but there's some neat little touches that offer glimmers of hope for the veteran outfit. If everything goes right, Williams should be able to gather a few points here and there throughout 2019, but it's inside the team where the biggest changes are needed.

Evidently, all is not well. If Williams is to ever return to the top, wholesale changes need to be made to the team's structure and personnel, while investment is needed to unlock the potential available.

If not, how long can the team be content to limp on in its current state?