F1: First look at 2015 Williams

Williams has become the first team to unveil an image of its 2015 Formula 1 car, with its new FW37 appearing on the front cover of F1 Racing. The Mercedes-powered car, which is in the striking color scheme of title sponsor Martini, features a much shorter nose, and more refined aerodynamics, than its predecessor.

Williams enjoyed a major step forward in performance last year as it moved from ninth place in 2013 to finish third overall, ending the season as the main challenger to series champions Mercedes.

Technical director Pat Symonds has high hopes that the FW37 can build on the momentum of 2014, even though the team does not have the budget of bigger rivals like Ferrari and Red Bull.

"How competitive you are is a relative thing," he said. "It is not just what you do, it is what your rivals do.

"We were probably fortunate that some of our rivals had some problems last year, but let's not take it away from what we achieved as well. Yes, we had a great power unit but equally in 2013 we had the same power unit as the guys that won the constructors' championship. So I think we had moved on a lot.

"But we are fighting with the big boys. We are fighting with the guys who are spending twice as much money as us – and that makes it very, very difficult to go forward.

"If we fully acknowledge all the things that brought us success in 2014, make sure we consolidate those, make sure we fully understand and incrementally move forward in all of those areas, then we can at least maintain if not improve where we are."

The new Williams is expected to hit the track for the first time during the opening pre-season test at Jerez in Spain that starts on Feb. 1.

Originally on Autosport.com