Williams has presented its new livery for the 2023 F1 season having attracted sponsorship from petrochemicals manufacturer Gulf.
The team which finished last in the 2022 championship has not revealed its chassis for the upcoming season yet. The FW45 is due to run in pre-season testing at Bahrain International Circuit from February 23rd.“As Williams Racing continues its transformation, we’re proud to unveil this year’s livery,” said Williams chairman, Matthew Savage.
“We are excited about this year’s car, and I cannot thank the entire team at Grove enough for their hard work to get ready for the season.”
There have significant changes at the team during the off-season. Team principal Jost Capito left the squad in December and his replacement James Vowles will arrive from Mercedes later this month. Technical director Francois-Xavier Demaison has also left, and driver Nicholas Latifi was dropped at the end of last season.
Alexander Albon goes into his second year at the team. He is joined by Logan Sargeant, who is making his debut in Formula 1 this year and will be the series’ first full-time American driver since 2007.
Rookie Sargeant confirmed to media including RaceFans that he will drive the new car in a filming day at Silverstone on February 13th. “I’m really excited for the season to get started after what, for me, feels like a long winter,” he said.
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“I’m super motivated and we’ve put a lot of hard work in. The car is looking amazing and it shows the huge effort the team has put in the off season, so I’m looking forward to getting started at Silverstone before heading out to Bahrain.”
Gulf CEO Mike Jones said partnering with Williams was the latest step in the company’s “proud history in motorsport” and confirmed the company would also support Williams’ driver academy and esports ventures.
“We are also excited to expand our foothold in motorsport through the Williams Racing Driver Academy and Williams Esports,” Jones said.
“Together we share a vision of a bright modern future for motorsport on and off the track; made possible through our common culture of partnership and innovation. This makes Williams Racing the perfect partner for Gulf, and we’re excited to start this next chapter of our iconic motorsport story.”
Several sponsors which were associated with Latifi no longer appear on the car. However the team has added backing from Michelob, Purestream and Stephen’s.
Pictures: 2023 Williams F1 launch
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Sam Crawford
6th February 2023, 14:09
I expect all the very dark navy to become bare carbon very quickly.
Surprised they didn’t add more of the classic light blue and a splash of orange for the gulf colours, especially as the orange ties in with the Duracell copper nicely, and the fact that McLaren will be reverting back to papaya and black.
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
6th February 2023, 14:12
Quite frankly, those Gulf stickers are probably as much of a vanity partnership as they were with McLaren, i.e. not worth any extra work on the design.
PMccarthy_is_a_legend (@pmccarthy_is_a_legend)
6th February 2023, 20:07
Only Williams could take a sponsor like Gulf onboard and turn out a boring livery…
petebaldwin (@)
6th February 2023, 14:10
Better than last year but there’s still too much going on. It’d look much better without the red.
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
6th February 2023, 14:10
I am simply overwhelmed by all the sponsorship Dorilton have managed to acquire.
These “Williams Racing” / “W” people must be paying them a lot!
superman
6th February 2023, 14:22
Where has the creativity gone in F1?
petebaldwin (@)
6th February 2023, 14:24
To Red Bull’s accounts department.
Greg
6th February 2023, 18:07
I guess it went to the same place it was during the McLaren/Marlboro – Williams/Rothman era or to the place it goes in the all-red Ferrari seasons
Qeki (@qeki)
6th February 2023, 20:22
Don’t know if it’s easier to market something which stays the same or changes every year
Qeki (@qeki)
6th February 2023, 14:23
If they would remove all the williams logos I wouldn’t be sure what that team is.
Hayden
6th February 2023, 14:23
heh… I like how they implemented the Duracell design into the top intake.
BasCB (@bascb)
6th February 2023, 15:09
Yeah, sadly that seems the most inspired thing about this new livery though. Those Gulf logos represent at best a “preffered lubricant supplier” deal with the company, apart from that there still is a huge lack of sponsorship on the cars.
Qeki (@qeki)
6th February 2023, 20:20
@bascb and they say they don’t need extra money..
BasCB (@bascb)
8th February 2023, 8:38
Yeah, I am sure they would be VERY happy to take more @qeki
Cranberry
7th February 2023, 7:31
I picked up on that detail as well, and I agree it looks very quirky.
As for the rest of it, I suspect the car we’ll see on the grid will have a lot more bare carbon on it.
Jere (@jerejj)
6th February 2023, 14:49
Nothing is noticeably different from FW44 other than the absence of bare dark carbon.
Chris Lloyd (@chrisr1718)
6th February 2023, 15:13
That’s because it is the FW44, This was just a ‘season’ launch. The FW45 will be unveiled at the test.
Gubstar
6th February 2023, 15:08
The definition of meh.
Come on Williams, you know you wont be at the sharp end of the grid………. so at least paint the car really nice so that it garners attention by itself. You know, something eye catching, something that stands out. But then if you dont have barely any sponsors why would you care….
MichaelN
6th February 2023, 15:12
It’s striking how the worst teams on the grid seem to get by with the least sponsors.
Back in the day, a back of the field team like Minardi would fill every tiny part of their car with (small) sponsors.
Seems like the money flow for being ‘part of’ F1 is quite good these days. No wonder they don’t want more teams.
Spencer (@spencer)
6th February 2023, 16:22
Exactly this. These are the moments where I (unrealistic as it may be) wish f1 had a relegation system in place…
Andrea
6th February 2023, 22:25
Isn’t that called Formula E?
David
7th February 2023, 8:38
Sadly I think you might be right. Gap between guaranteed F1 funding and what it takes to run a car around at the back of the field is not that much.
S
7th February 2023, 8:53
+1
Jockey Ewing
6th February 2023, 15:24
The Duracell stuff is cool. As many others, I do not see too much changes on the livery.
I do not like that the studio/ambient lights are practically the same as the livery’s colors.
If the teams are only revealing the liveries instead of the cars at these occasions, then
there is no reason to hide things, by not having contrast. And at natural lighting, the
livery might look/feel quite differently – so there will be surprised fans when the cars go
to the tracks.
So having the ambient lightning color-wise matched up with the car is a quite unexplainable trend for me.
JezH79
6th February 2023, 15:46
So true! It’s all one big-blue-hue and kinda murky – while there is nothing to hide, besides the apparent lack of sponsors. Dorilton have tried to give Williams a new identity but it’s clear it has lost it’s soul – the Williams family – and it shows in the livery and presentation, nothing but share holders trying to be smart.
Rick
6th February 2023, 15:52
Boring
Dani B. Molina (@esmiz)
6th February 2023, 15:58
It looks cheap, bland and standard. It looks like a livery taken from a cheap mobile videogame without license
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
6th February 2023, 16:12
I’m glad a team has finally put little arrows on the wheels to show which way they go around.
This has caused confusion for me for many years!
StephenH
6th February 2023, 16:17
Disappointing.
Tristan (@skipgamer)
6th February 2023, 19:41
I actually think these shots look really cool, but that’s mostly because of the lighting. It’s a shame because they could have added those extra accents and gradients the lights are providing to the livery itself and I think it would look amazing.
SteveR (@stever)
6th February 2023, 23:15
I would have liked to see it under natural light conditions, as it would be on track. The blue lighting makes it look like they have something to hide….. Like a lack of sponsors.
Shimks (@shimks)
7th February 2023, 11:43
Wow, they certainly know how to do liveries!
Shimks (@shimks)
7th February 2023, 12:01
Thank God.