Williams reveal 2025 F1 car in special one-off livery

Williams have revealed their 2025 F1 challenger, the FW47, at the Silverstone Circuit. 

Crash.net was on location for the event in which James Vowles, Alex Albon, and new driver Carlos Sainz spoke passionately about their ambitions for the year on a cold Northamptonshire morning.

Underpinned by this week’s announcement of a multi-million dollar title sponsorship deal with software firm Atlassian, the team boasts their strongest driver lineup since the early hybrid era as they hope to rise into F1’s midfield and build on the sporadic success of years prior. 

The new sponsorship also means that the official entry name of the team is now ‘Atlassian Williams Racing’.

Sainz arrives at the Grove-based marque with 206 race starts, 27 podiums, and four trips to the top step of the rostrum. 

Once Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari set the dominoes of the F1 driver market in motion, the popular Spaniard emerged as the best available talent on the grid as he continued to make headlines throughout 2024 while negotiating with teams across the grid, including Red Bull, Mercedes, and Alpine.

Sainz’s presence also brings with it the backing of the Spanish bank Santander, which adds to a dense sponsor portfolio that includes Gulf Oil, Duracell, and Japanese industrial multinational Komatsu. 

Under Vowles’ tenure as team principal, which began in 2023, Williams have put the building blocks of long-term racing success in place, with their new driver pairing viewed as another step toward sustainable sporting success.

Albon and Sainz are poised to be closely matched as teammates. Both are products of the famous Red Bull driver academy and now stand as experienced members of the F1 paddock whose talents have stood the whips and scorns of time in motorsports top class.

Williams finished ninth in the constructors’ standings last year with 17 points in a season dominated by the narrative of their second seat alongside Albon. 

With a significant 29-point gap to RB in 8th and the huge jumps in prize money available at each rung of the F1 constructors’ championship, Williams will be hoping to take solid steps towards the midfield in 2025. 

Previously, Logan Sargeant’s repeated heavy crash damage and relative underperformance led to his early contract termination before the Italian Grand Prix.

After which, reserve driver Franco Colapinto stepped in and went on to impress the paddock with his raw pace and ability to match, and in rare cases beat, Alex Albon over one lap. 

Though crashes continued to rachet up the Williams repair bill to an estimated $9.4M, many across the grid were impressed with the Argentinian’s performance including Alpine boss Flavio Briatore.

Colapinto is presently Alpine’s reserve driver, with many expecting him to be swapped in for Jack Doohan early in the season if Doohan is unable to impress Briatore. 

Expectations are higher for Sainz at Williams this year; together with Albon, they form a pair of Red Bull driver academy graduates that are among the grid’s finest. Whether the FW47 can match the strength of its drivers will be a potent talking point across the season.

Since their inception in 1977 and further elevation to full constructor status in 1798, F1 legend Frank Williams’ team grew from plucky privateers on the outer boundaries of the sport to world championship winners within three years, most famously with Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost in 1992 and 1993, respectively.

The advanced suspension geometry and active aerodynamics of the Adrian Newey-designed FW14B and FW15C paved the way for many of F1’s present and future design innovations. The FW47 shown off today sported what the team described as a ‘bespoke one-off livery’. 

On Tuesday, February 18, Williams’ 2025 race livery will be unveiled alongside F1’s other nine teams in the ‘F175’ event at London’s O2 arena, which Crash.net will also be on location for.

The car will first hit the track on February 26 for three days of testing at the Bahrain International Circuit. It will then race at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix weekend, beginning on March 14.