Paris (AFP)
The Williams Formula 1 team, which was due to unveil its revamped car for 2021 via an augmented reality app on Friday, changed its plans by presenting the car via photos after it was hacked.
The car, "inspired by the conquering Williams of the 1980s and 1990s" now sports more blue than white and yellow undertones.
This single-seater, the first launched without a member of the Williams family at the head of the British team, is "an evolution (of the 2020 FW43) on a technical level because of the provisions of the regulations (which largely freeze the developments this season for economy in the face of the coronavirus crisis), hence the name FW43B rather FW44. "
"Williams Racing had planned to reveal its car via an augmented reality application (...) Unfortunately, the application having been hacked before its launch, this will no longer be possible", had earlier indicated in a press release the team, which relied on an original way to launch its season.
The application should have allowed fans, kept away from the circuits since last year by the Covid-19, to "project a life-size 3D model of the FW43B in their house".
In sporting difficulty (10th and last in the manufacturer's ranking since 2018) and financially, Williams was bought in 2020 by the American investment fund Dorilton Capital, losing its status as a family team, a vestige of another time in F1.
The team was founded in 1975 by Sir Frank Williams, who managed it until 2013, before handing over to his daughter Claire until the takeover.
She has been a seven-time world champion for pilots, thanks in particular to Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet, Alain Prost, Jacques Villeneuve and Damon Hill, and nine times world champion for manufacturers between 1980 and 1997.
Only Ferrari has yet to unveil images of its 2021 competitor on Wednesday, ahead of pre-season testing from March 12 to 14 in Bahrain.
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