The Williams Toyota FW30, was unveiled today with its new livery for this year's Formula One Championship.

"With four years of regulation stability, we have a good basis to be progressive about the development of this season's car," the team's Technical Director, Sam Michael, explained
"With a good reliability record last year, we have been able to build on this quality while also turning some of our attention to clear performance objectives."
"Our focus has been on performance as well as refining our packaging and weight distribution. 
 We are designing a tidier car with a higher standard of build quality.
The FW30 should represent a good step forward when all of the many small areas of attention and improvement are brought together in the overall package," added Michael.

With good times in winter testing, it looks like podium finishes may happen this season

The new car, which was unofficially launched during testing has been relatively impressive, propelling drivers Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima up the timesheets.  Also, German test driver Nico Hulkenberg has been impressive in the car. 

Apart from major frontwing failure which caused Nakajima to have a major accident, there have been very few problems for the British team.

The new livery is mainly a navy blue colour, with splashes of white on it.  It looks very much like the old liveries when BMW were the engine supplier.  In terms of sponsorship, the car is certainly not bare.  AT&T remain as the main team sponsor with presence all over the car.  Lenovo kept their rear wing advertisment, and RBS also remain as a major feature of the engine box.  Hamleys (as mentioned below) are now a very prominent sponsor on the sidepods.  BR Petronas have their spot above the barge boards.

Reuters appear on the cockpit sides, All Saints on the rear wing and Oris on the front wing endplates.

Williams will be hoping that their Toyota powered car can return them to the glory days, when they were challenging Ferrari and McLaren for points, wins and titles.

Patrick Head commented during the livery launch,

"We don't really target any particular team. We are just trying to do the best we can. Ferrari won the championship last year so they are the target,"

"Obviously I would be disappointed if we cannot get in and give the odd Ferrari and the odd McLaren a fright during the year. But both of the teams seem to be in very good shape for the start of the year.

"BMW, I think, have had a difficult introduction but they seem to have got it pretty well sorted now and I think they will be quick.

"Red Bull seems quite good, but they have been stuck in the garage a few times. Renault have made some positive noises and I am sure they will be better than last year but you don't get the impression they will be challenging Ferrari and McLaren."

He added: "We know we've got a much better car than last year's car and a much more stable back end on it and things. But I think quite a number of teams have got improved cars."

Livery Launch Pictures

The German driver is going into his 3rd season, and his 3rd with Williams.  He is now looking for podiums, and believes the FW30 is the car to do it in.

"We've had plenty of running in the wet this week and we looked pretty good, which was positive," Rosberg said about the Barcelona tests.

"It wasn't that easy to drive in the conditions, it's hard to keep the tyres in the working window, especially without traction control, so you're always on the limit."

"We seem to be progressing well with the new car and I am happy with the improvements we're making," he added.

The Williams F1 team have decided to pack up and head back to their headquarters in the UK after only 2 days of testing in Barcelona

The had new parts flown in on Frank Williams private plane this morning, which were fitted to the Fw30, but the team feel they have not fully resolved the problem of what caused Nakajimas crash yesterday.

So they decided to pack up and leave.

The team hope to go to Jerez next week to test again

The Williams F1 team have stopped testing for today.

Kazuki Nakajima had a nasty high speed crash this morning, but luckily he walked away unhurt.  Thw williams team then decided to stop testing for today, until they could find the cause of the accident.

At the time Nico Rosberg was also on track in the FW30, but they decided to bring him in, and check his car didn't have the same problems which caused Nakajima to go off.

The practice session was stopped for nearly 20 minutes while track marshals removed Nakajimas FW30.
A team spokesman has said of Nakajima, “He is fine. It was related to a front wing mounting issue which will be fixed and the car will be running again tomorrow.”

The British team opted against an official launch of their new car, instead bringing it out on track.

The car was scheduled to be launched last week at Jerez, but it was put back a week so that adjustments could be made.

Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima are the teams 2 race drivers.  Nico Hulkenberg is the team test driver.

The current livery is part of a special comemorative series, and the official race livery will not be revealed until the Australian GP in March.

Technical director Sam Michael said: "Our focus has been on performance as well as refining our packaging and weight distribution.

"We are designing a tidier car with a higher standard of build quality. The FW30 should represent a good step forward when all of the many small areas of attention and improvement are brought together in the overall package."

CHECK OUT THE WILLIAMS FW30 GALLERY:

http://f1fanatics.wordpress.com/f1-gallery/williams-fw30/

Declaraciones de Alonso: "Cuando ruedas el primer día con un coche nuevo tienes que tomarte un tiempo para comprobar que todos los sistemas funcionan correctamente y eso es lo que hemos hecho hoy. Hemos ido alargando nuestras salidas a pista poco a poco llegando a completar 14 sin parar. Todo ha ido bien pero es todavía demasiado pronto para comparar nuestro resultado con el de otros equipos, y eso no era nuestro objetivo hoy. La buena noticia es que nos hemos encontrado con pocos problemas, y continuaremos con nuestro trabajo mañana."

Mas fotos:

http://motorsport.com/photos/select.asp?S=F1&E=Valencia_January_tes/Day_1&Y=2008

http://www.formula1.com/gallery/testing/2008/237.html

http://www.f1today.nl/fotos/testsessies/testsessie-valencia-21-januari-2008/

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/photos/2008/index_tests.shtml

http://www.autosport.com/gallery/index.php/sc/1