Williams 2019 livery on 2018 F1 car

“Frank loved it” – Williams founder’s reaction to new livery

RaceFans Round-up

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In the round-up: Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams says her father, Sir Frank, approves of the team’s revised livery for the 2019 F1 season.

What they say

Williams was asked what the team founder made of the switch to pale blue and white:

Frank loved it. You might be surprised to hear that, but he did.

I have to say I was a little nervous going and presenting it to him as Frank is very traditional, he’s very protective of that navy blue and white.

But understanding the arguments behind it, that this is telling the world a very clear story, delivering a very clear message in my mind where we are as a company, he is fully behind it.

And I’m still here. If he didn’t like it, he probably would have fired me.

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Social media

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Comment of the day

A line in yesterday’s surprise announcement from McLaren about their new partnership with British American Tobacco caught @Jimg’s attention:

“Our potentially reduced risk products” – good grief, marketing meets legal!
@Jimg

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On this day in F1

  • Born today in 1974: Future F1 and IndyCar racer – plus Formula Nippon and Super GT champion – Toranosuke Takagi

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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30 comments on ““Frank loved it” – Williams founder’s reaction to new livery”

  1. Duncan Snowden
    12th February 2019, 0:43

    I don’t think the lighting at the Williams launch did the livery any favours, and I suspect it’ll look better on-track. Maybe I’ll turn out to be wrong, but I’m going to reserve judgement until then.

    1. I did not even notice the light blue; I thought it was due to the lighting ;)

  2. Yes Dear, LOVELY, Very nice indeed, we will definately put that one up on the fridge!

  3. It’s funny how they replaced fire with a heating element and they are pretending it’s a brand new product.

    If you ask me legislation should consider them the same as cigarettes asap or we risk creating a new generation of smokers. (As if all the ‘tastes like peach’ nicotine products weren’t enough)

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      12th February 2019, 2:07

      @afonic It’s a tough one – I can totally understand your point of view but for me personally, I used vaping as a way of quitting smoking and it worked. I reduced the amount of nicotine in the liquid until I got to zero and then all that was left was the habit (rather than the addiction). I went on holiday for 2 weeks and didn’t take my ecig with me and haven’t used it since.

      The issue is that they aren’t being advertised as a way of quitting smoking – they are being advertised as a “less dangerous alternative to smoking.”

      If PMI and BAT seriously want to do something positive, why don’t they run a campaign showing people how to quit smoking by using their other products to help them? Why not call it “Mission Quit?” I think we can all guess why they aren’t doing that…..

      1. I used vaping as a way of quitting smoking and it worked. I reduced the amount of nicotine in the liquid until I got to zero

        If tobacco was really concerned about helping people quit, the they would have introduced cigarette versions with less nicotine.
        That way they could have supported your efforts to quit years ago. @petebaldwin

        1. never heard of light cigarettes? They are on the market since ages. the problem: most smokers tend to smoke more when they use light cigarettes.

          1. Didn’t know that, @davisp. I never smoked.
            I always assumed Light cigarettes was a version marketed to women, and not as an alternative to quit smoking.

        2. nicotine isn’t the problem with tobacco (well, it is the addictive element but in the quantities that reach the bloodstream it is not harmful on its own) , it’s all the tar and carcinogens and myriad other harmful chemicals. vaping, while not with its own harmful products, is so much less dangerous. @petebaldwin shows that it is possible the wean yourself off nicotine addiction by using e-cigs, although I know of others who ended up more addicted to nicotine through vaping.

          if the big players in the tobacco industry put their full weight behind vaping products (as seems to be happening already) I predict the world will see a net health benefit. that doesn’t mean vaping is good for you, it’s just much better for you than smoking tobacco.

          https://www.gov.uk/government/news/e-cigarettes-around-95-less-harmful-than-tobacco-estimates-landmark-review

      2. Mission Quit is probably the best slogan McLaren could have hoped for in their current state

      3. @petebaldwin I agree with your point of view and I am happy that you managed to quit. But even though I am sure of the benefits to smokers, advertising these products in the general public is a bit dangerous. A smoker probably already knows they exist. They are clearly trying to attract new customers.

        Check out what Juul is for example, and how it creates a new generation of smokers.

  4. Pathetic livery. A once great team spiraling towards the bottom. Pitty of Kubica, who waited so long for a chance to come back and will have to drive a piece of crap.

    1. @svianna It won’t be ugly in his eyes if it is quick.

  5. Frank seems to be liking a lot of things in the Williams Team the last 5-10 years that ended up destroying the team…Maldonando and all the other pay drivers one of them is just one of the many examples. Let’s hope they won’t be the last team in the grid come Melbourne.

    1. 👍 very disappointed

    2. Yeah, those good old days when they had a race winning driver :P

    3. Fudge Kobayashi (@)
      12th February 2019, 10:29

      Claire is running the team into the ground and deflecting the bad job she’s doing by insisting Frank approves.

    4. I don’t want to sound like I’m defending Maldonado, he was indeed a pay driver and lasted too much in F1. But, at least he won a race.. He’s actually the last Williams race winning driver.

  6. Time to bash Maldonado again? In the last 15 years, Williams scored exactly one grand prix victory. It wasn’t scored by future world champion Rosberg, nor future winners Webber or Bottas. Nor by Hulkenberg, Massa, Barrichello or Heidfeld.

    1. Exactly, but he did crash more than all of those guys put together!

    2. I always felt the biggest loser from Maldonado’s pay driver status was himself. He actually had some real talent and could be very quick. However since his seat was always safe due to his funding there was never any pressure on him to try and improve. He never had to admit to his mistakes or that he needed to change approach so he just got worse and worse.

      1. Interesting point @yossarian, I think you might be quite right there.

    3. @oel-f1 Two in the last 15 years to be precise. The earlier one came with Montoya in Brazil in 2004.

      1. Sorry, I counted wrong. I ment from 2005 onwards, but that’s obviously only 14 years. My bad.

  7. ”If he didn’t like it, he probably would have fired me.” – LOL. An Interesting tweet by Keith, as well as, the COTD.

    1. @jerejj

      I think he’s lucky Frank didn’t have his glasses on. It looks like a giant toothpaste graphic on a car.

  8. Hopefully the car will be as fast as it is ugly. If thats the case it will be fighting for wins.

  9. “… delivering a very clear message . . . where we are as a company…”

    Really…! All it says to me is the in-house graphics guys are crap, or it was actually done by Claire… and all this ‘Dad likes it,’ crap is sickening.

  10. Rocket?? Isn’t that a bit optimistic or is it wishful thinking? Oh dear… fading colors, FADING car? Well lets not be to harsh, after all one has to be supportive of amateurs that like to do it all themselves.

Comments are closed.