Williams and Renault announce their presentation days
It is now time for the Williams and Renault teams to set the dates for the unveiling of their new cars.
The Grove team is the first to announce a launch date for its FW41. It will take place on February 15 in London at an event organized for the occasion. This new single-seater will be the first designed under the full supervision of Paddy Lowe, its technical director who joined the team at the start of last season.
Williams has bet on youth for this season by renewing young Lance Stroll for a second season and integrating Russian Sergey Sirotkin, who will make his Formula 1 debut after being a reserve for Renault. These two young talents will be accompanied by Robert Kubica as a reserve and development driver.
ICYMI: @Sirotkin_Sergey to partner Lance Stroll in /f1/actualite/22471-sauber-annonce-la-date-de-lancement-de-sa-monoplace-2018.html. Robert Kubica joins as Reserve and Development Driver #WeAreRacing pic.twitter.com/CGAa97lTnA
— WILLIAMS RACING (@WilliamsRacing) 16 janvier /f1/actualite/22471-sauber-annonce-la-date-de-lancement-de-sa-monoplace-2018.html
It was then Renault that announced the date it has set to unveil its new RS18. This will take place on February 20th, the same day as Sauber, during a ceremony broadcast live on the Internet. This season will mark three years since their return to Formula 1, and the team’s goal will certainly be to position themselves as the fourth team on the grid behind the three giants. The beginning of the year will also see the operational arrival of Marcin Budkowski from the FIA after several weeks of controversy.
On the driver side, the Enstone team will benefit from the services of Carlos Sainz, who is on loan for a year from Red Bull after already competing in the last four Grand Prix of the 2017 season with Renault. He will be joined by Nico Hülkenberg, who logically continues with Renault after a more than satisfactory first season. Another novelty for Renault is the McLaren engine for the first time in the history of the discipline. This will allow the French team to have a solid point of comparison to measure its progress in addition to Red Bull.
The rumours were true… The covers will officially come off on 20 February.
Tune in on the day! #RS18 #LaRS18IsComing pic.twitter.com/2oaIZFPKOP— Renault Sport F1 (@RenaultSportF1) 29 janvier /f1/actualite/22471-sauber-annonce-la-date-de-lancement-de-sa-monoplace-2018.html
Note that McLaren and Force India have announced they have successfully passed the crash tests. Additionally, Toro Rosso announced today that it will finally unveil its car on February 26 in the pit lane just before the start of winter testing.
