The different shades of Williams Racing

From our debut as a constructor back in 1978 right up to the modern day, the look of the team has evolved throughout the decades.

To celebrate World Heritage Day, we take a trip down memory lane to see how our livery has developed over the years.

The first car produced by Sir Frank Williams and Sir Patrick Head was the FW06, running a predominantly white livery with a deep green stripe down either side.

Green, brought onto the cars as a result of title sponsorship by the national airline of Saudi Arabia, became more prominent as we said goodbye to the ’70s and rolled into the early ’80s.

Blue accents were also incorporated into the design, a colour that would soon become synonymous with the team.

Our first race wins, Drivers’ Championships and Constructors’ Championships would all be celebrated in these early white and green machines.

The mid-1980s saw us bid farewell to green and welcome yellow onto our car, alongside white and a more prominent shade of blue.

This trio of colours would adorn our cars until the end of the 1993 season, with plenty of success celebrated in this era.

Three Drivers’ titles and four Constructors’ crowns would come our way in a colour scheme that is intrinsically linked with the era.

We couldn’t talk about this design without mentioning Nigel’s FW14B – Red Five – one of the most iconic racing cars of all time.

A title sponsorship from Rothmans International at the start of the 1994 season saw our livery change to match the brand’s colour scheme of blue, white and gold accents.

Although this design only ran for four seasons, it still had its fair share of titles, though it is arguably best remembered for Damon Hill’s 1996 triumph and the commentary that accompanied the moment he crossed the line in Suzuka.

“And I've got to stop because I've got a lump in my throat.”

As the turn of the millennium approached, many people were trying new things before the 2000s began.

Well, at Williams we thought we’d give red a try. Besides, another team in the paddock had been running the colour for a while and we wanted to try it on for size.

The truth is Rothmans International chose to promote their Australian brand, Winfield, on the cars in 1998 and 1999, seeing us wave goodbye to the blue we had been running since ‘85.

In came a red, white and gold livery that still brings mixed opinions to this day.

It’s safe to say that the FW20 and FW21 certainly stand out from the rest in our Heritage Collection.

The turn of the millennium brought with it the start of a six-season collaboration with BMW. It also saw us settle back into a run of navy blue and white liveried machines.

Season by season, the design would change but the two base colours would remain the same.

The dawn of the hybrid era brought a shake-up to our car design; a deal with Martini brought with it their instantly recognisable racing colours that have graced sports cars, touring cars and rally cars down the years.

The eye-catching FW45 was officially revealed at our Season Launch back in February.

Not long after, Ed Scott, our Head of Creative Design, guided us through the process involved in designing our 2023 livery, including how that Duracell feature came about.

“It was exciting to work on. When we were talking to Duracell back in 2022, it was clear we wanted to try and get their battery worked into our car.

“There were different variations of how we could do that, one was taking the simple approach of simply printing a battery off and sticking it on the side of the car, but that wouldn’t create much impact.

“I was determined to try and create something that integrated into the livery seamlessly, but one that also got people thinking and got people talking."

You can read the full feature here.