Williams to Debut Blown Diffuser at Silverstone

After Ferrari, Mercedes GP and Renault, another team is preparing to debut Red Bull's low exhaust configuration on its 2010 challenger. We're talking about Williams F1, a team that has already heavily updated the FW32 at Valencia, two weekends ago. However, this particular part was not fitted onto the car back then, and is expected to further improve its performances at Silverstone.

In Valencia, both Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg qualified inside the Top 10 on the grid, for the second time this season (the first time was in Malaysia, but it happened thanks to unstable weather conditions), and the former scored a great 4th place in the race. This weekend, the team will run the low exhaust configuration during the Friday practice sessions and, if the feedback is positive, the feature will stay onto the FW32 for Saturday and Sunday action also.

The concept involves diverting engine gases through the double diffuser to boost downforce. As far as Williams is concerned, test and reserve driver Valtteri Bottas has already tested the new configuration on the runway at England's Kemble airport on Tuesday, but the info collected by the engineers was not enough to evaluate its effectiveness on a real track.

“The FW32 will have further upgrades for the British Grand Prix, including an exhaust blown diffuser, rear brake duct and front suspension changes,” said the team's technical director Sam Michael.

“We'll evaluate the exhaust during the practice sessions on Friday and will make a final decision as to whether we race it that night,” added the Williams official.

Williams is not the only team to debut their blown diffuser at Silverstone, as McLaren Mercedes also integrated this part (own-developed) into their updated package for the British Grand Prix. Additionally, Ferrari have developed their exhaust configuration as part of a multi-stage programme, meaning the F10 blown diffuser will feature some slight changes as compared to Valencia.