The Williams FW41 looks "a lot more aggressive" according to retired driver Felipe Massa, who said he'd seen the 2018 car in the wind tunnel prior to his departure from the team.
This seasons car is the first that has been designed under new chief technical officer Paddy Lowe, who joined from Mercedes last year, and will likely be heavily influenced by the W08 that won both the Drivers' and Constructors' championships last year.
Although stable regulations tend to create evolutions of previous seasons designs, the addition of the Halo and the fact this is only the second season of radically different regulations means new concepts are still likely to be discovered which could change the look of the cars in '18.
"I saw the new car in the windtunnel and I saw so many changes that it looks quite interesting," Massa told Autosport.
"The car looks a lot more aggressive. It looks a lot more different so I believe maybe they can improve."
Williams finished a distant fifth in the standings after failing to compete with Force India, therefore Massa says it is hugely important they make big steps forward this year particularly given the likely improvement that will come from Renault and McLaren.
"You will have Renault that will improve," he added. "You will also have McLaren so we need to see how much it can be, this improvement.
"I need to see also what the drivers can do but I believe maybe the team can have a better car compared to what we had until now."
Discussion about this post