2022 Williams F1 car breaks cover in Silverstone shakedown

The Grove-based outfit unveiled a tweaked livery for the upcoming 2022 campaign on a show car for Tuesday’s digital launch event, before the FW44 made its track debut during an initial shakedown run. 

An electrical issue delayed Williams’ initial run plan by an hour, but the FW44 finally emerged on track at a wet Silverstone at 2pm GMT, with Nicholas Latifi first behind the wheel.

New Williams signing Alex Albon is also set to get a first run in the FW44 on Tuesday. 

Williams has become the third F1 team to run its 2022 car in public ahead of next week’s opening pre-season test at Barcelona. 

Aston Martin shook down its AMR22 at Silverstone last week, while Alfa Romeo’s C42 ran for the first time in a camouflage livery for a shakedown at Fiorano on Tuesday. 

Williams team principal and CEO Jost Capito stressed that the build of the FW44 was “all on plan” despite the livery-only reveal. 

Asked why Williams had taken such an approach for its launch event, he said: "Because we worked on the livery and we wanted to have that perfect. 

“That’s why we could only have it on the show car because it took a little while to do. 

“The race car itself is just getting ready. At 2 o’clock we can go on track and we will have some photos from that car. We just wanted to show something proper on the livery.”