FIRST LOOK: Williams’ 2024 F1 car emerges for the first time in Bahrain

Williams’ 2024 F1 challenger - the FW46 - has appeared for the first time in a shakedown in Bahrain.

It’s the first time Williams’ new car has taken to the track ahead of the new season having only revealed their new livery earlier this month as part of a ‘season launch’.

In footage released on the team’s social media accounts, Logan Sargeant was seen driving out of the pit lane in the new car on Tuesday morning.

The FW46 rolls out in Bahrain pic.twitter.com/VTxA0ytMWT

— Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) February 20, 2024

Williams had considered giving the car its track debut at Silverstone - like McLaren, Aston Martin and Mercedes did - but given the weather conditions, team principal James Vowles thought it would have been a waste of time.

“We could easily have run down there,” Vowles said as reported by The Race. “But there was a balance between doing the virtual track test and Silverstone.

“A bit of it is we've pushed ourselves to the absolute limits, a bit of it is actually I believe far more in doing other testing, if you'd like to call it that, and then use Bahrain as the opportunity to get started.”

Williams enjoyed their best season in six years in 2023, securing seventh in the constructors’ championship.

This was mainly down to Alex Albon’s run of sensational performances, capitalising on any opportunity the team had to score points.

In a bid to continue their impressive form, Williams have adopted an aggressive approach with the design of the FW46.

Vowles explained: “What we were doing with this car is pushing everything to the limits. “And to give you ideas about that, the chassis technology is different, some of the other technologies are quite different to what we've done before.

“Those changes are enormous for an organisation, absolutely enormous. Some of those have challenged us to push ourselves beyond where we wanted to be.

“You simply can't do everything at the same time, you can't change what you're doing and break technology cycles, and put yourself in a much better performance situation, without taking an enormous amount of risk.

“And we have, but there's no doubt about it having the car where we have it now, and you'll see it in Bahrain, is late.”

Sargeant and Alex Albon will get an extended run out in the FW46 when pre-season testing kicks off in Bahrain on February 21.