Williams have taken the covers off their 2009 car, the FW31, at a low-key event at the Autodromo Nacional do Algarve today. The team, which endured a difficult 2008 season, hopes to return to the front of the grid with the car, revealed in an interim testing livery. In keeping with the current sober financial mood, the ceremony was a simple one, during which test driver Nico Hulkenberg was photographed next to the car in front of the pit garages.
The Grove-based squad, which enjoyed considerable success in the eighties and nineties, has suffered from a lack of form in recent years. It nevertheless retains a reputation for engineering excellence and innovation, and this year its hopes rest on its flywheel KERS. Most teams are believed to be using a battery operated system.
Hulkenberg will shake the car down later today at the Portuguese track.
