Well, this livery is certainly something different, isn’t it? This is the new Williams FW43B, the first F1 car to be launched under new team ownership after the Williams family departed the squad in September 2020.
Gallery: Williams FW43B 2021 F1 car
&width=1600)
There's blue and white in the livery, as there has been in nearly every Williams F1 car, but there are now three blues, two interwoven across the engine cover, as well as highlights of yellow dotted across the nose, front wing, mirrors and sidepods.
As the ‘B’ in the name suggests the FW43B is a development of the FW43 that contested the 2020 season, the result of a move by Formula 1 to postpone an entirely new set of technical regulations by a year to 2022 in order to help ease the financial pressures on teams during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The driver line-up for 2021 remains the same from 2020, with Brit George Russell and Canadian Nicholas Latifi, while the reserve driver is F2 racer Jack Aitken and the development driver Jamie Chadwick.
The new CEO of Williams Racing, Jost Capito, who has worked for BMW, Porsche, Sauber, Ford, Volkswagen and McLaren in his near 40-year career, said: “Williams Racing is a sporting icon, and a team that has forged a reputation of success through sheer determination and grit intertwined with innovation, passionate and skilful race-craft and an absolute desire to win. Highs and lows are typical in any long-established sporting brand’s journey and historic success can be a strong motivator, but it cannot be relied upon to define future success in the modern era of Formula 1.
“Therefore, we have created a fresh new livery for the 2021 car; one that acknowledges our incredible past and retains the spirit, drive and motivation that remains at the core of Williams’ DNA yet looks to the future and signposts our long-term ambition to return to the front of the grid. Whilst we are just starting out on this journey and there is still a lot of work to do, we are happy to see momentum in the right direction and look forward to continuing that progress on track this season.”
It’s unlikely the FW43B will see the same success as one very famous FW14B, but, with so many years of motorsport in its past, hopefully the team will get there again one day…
&height=15&fastscale=false)
&height=15&fastscale=false)
&height=15&fastscale=false)
&height=15&fastscale=false)
&height=15&fastscale=false)
&height=15&fastscale=false)
&width=75)
&width=75)
&width=75)
&width=75)
Join our motorsport community
Get closer to motorsport at Goodwood! Join the GRRC Fellowship to be first in the queue for event tickets, to attend the GRRC-only Members' Meeting and to enjoy year-round, exclusive benefits.
&width=75)
&width=75)
&width=75)