A journey through Williams’ car liveries since 2014

Tom Rawcliffe

Williams FW36 PA Valtteri Bottas

With the arrival of Williams‘ 2021 challenger now here, we’ve taken look back through their car liveries during the turbo hybrid era.

2014

Williams secured a sponsorship with Martini & Rossi which meant that the iconic Martini Racing colours were back in Formula 1 in 2014.

The Martini stripes were a great addition to a traditional white Williams car which, without the decoration, probably would have looked rather plain, but instead made for a very tidy-looking challenger.

Williams FW36 Felipe Massa PA
Williams FW36 Felipe Massa PA

2015

Martini again took its place on the rear wing and the engine cover – this time increased in size – while Rexona took its spot as sponsor on the sidepods after being left clear a year earlier.

Unlike its predecessor, the FW37 displayed the drivers’ numbers at the top of the nose cone in a simplistic font encompassing the nature of the car.

Williams FW37 2015 PA
Williams FW37 2015 PA

2016

Except for minor sponsorship changes, there were very few tweaks made when it came to the FW38.

Avanade took the place of Hackett on the nose of the car, while Wipak went on the side of the front wing instead of Kemppi.

Williams FW38 Felipe Massa PA
Williams FW38 Felipe Massa PA

2017

Williams had given supporters a tidy car for the last few years and, while there were never many complaints about the liveries in isolation, they were getting a bit samey. And that did not change in 2017.

The FW40 was another almost replica of its predecessor, but for a few changes in sponsorship – most notably JCB coming onto the rear wing endplates.

Williams FW40 Felipe Massa PA
Williams FW40 Felipe Massa PA

Driver and team face coverings are available now on the official Formula 1 store!

2018

There were certainly no wholesale changes when it came to the FW41, but it did at least offer more variation than the previous few years.

Much more black was introduced onto its livery, with the bottom of the sidepods all being made darker which made for a nice contrast between the black and white.

While sticking with their number placement at the top of the nose cone, they were also proudly displayed at the back of the engine cover fin.

Williams W41 Sergey Sirotkin PA
Williams W41 Sergey Sirotkin PA

2019

Alas, some change. In 2019, Williams, now post-Martini, introduced electric blue to their livery.

Supporters were happy to see some change, but there is always something to complain about, right? The blue had been added in a spray-paint-like effect, which some were not overly convinced by.

Telecommunications company ROKiT were the sponsor to replace Martini while Orlen was added onto the engine cover.

Williams FW42 Nicholas Latifi PA
Williams FW42 Nicholas Latifi PA

2020

Red was brought back to Williams when they unveiled their 2020 challenger in February, with ROKiT now taking an ever larger position on the side of the car.

Williams FW43 Nicholas Latifi PA
Williams FW43 Nicholas Latifi PA

Their sponsorship with the historic constructor was soon terminated, though, and Williams made the decision to change their entire livery and not just switch the sponsors.

The red was ditched as they returned to their more traditional and simplistic blue and white palette.

Williams FW43B PA George Russell
Williams FW43B PA George Russell

2021

Williams finally switched it up with a modern twist on their retro, iconic colour scheme of a dark blue, white and yellow, taking inspiration from their glory years back in the 1980s and 1990s.

Williams FW43B
Williams FW43B

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