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Williams has become the second Formula 1 team to reveal its new car for the upcoming season.
The team held an event at Silverstone to present its Mercedes-powered FW47. The car has been revealed in what the team calls a “bespoke one-off livery”. It will uncover its definitive livery at F1’s official pre-season launch event in London next week.
In their third year under the leadership of team principal James Vowles, Williams have made two significant changes. The first is the hiring of ex-Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz Jnr, a four-times grand prix winner. He takes the seat Logan Sargeant occupied at the start of last year before he was dropped at mid-season and replaced by Franco Colapinto.
Sainz was chosen to drive the first two laps in the FW47 on the short version of the Silverstone circuit. “Everything went fine, which is good news,” he said afterwards. “An install lap for a newly-born car is always a bit tricky, but everything worked as it should and now we’re ready to get into the run plan.”
His team mate is Alexander Albon, who is going into his fourth year as a Williams driver.
The second major change at the team is the arrival of the team’s first title sponsor since 2019, Atlassian, which was announced earlier this week. Vowles said the importance of the team’s first title sponsorship deal for five years should not be underestimated.
“In the history of Williams this is by far – nothing, anything close to it – the biggest partnership we’ve ever had,” he said. “It’s probably one of the biggest, full stop, in the sport or in sports.”
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The FW47 was designed under the new technical team Vowles has put in place since he joined the team from Mercedes. They include chief technical officer Pat Fry and design director Matt Harman, both of whom joined the team from Alpine.
Williams fell from seventh in the 2023 championship to ninth last year, following a season dogged by crashes. However Vowles said the team is still prioritising its long-term development, the fruits of which he expects to start seeing after this season.
“You’re going to see us progress forwards but what I’ve always said is we’ve put our focus into ’26, ’27 and ’28,” he said. “We’re developing elements that come online as a result of that. We have this year huge infrastructure changes that come online. We had 700 people, over 1,050 today, and we’re not finished yet. There’s a lot more in the pipeline.
“That’s all happening in the background and what I want to make sure that we’re doing is not taking just the short-term, little bit of gain at the cost of long-term. We’re here to make sure we’re back to winning championships. To do that will take a little bit more time. But that’s the investment we’re doing.”
Pictures: Sainz driving the FW47 at Silverstone
Video: Sainz driving the FW47 at Silverstone
Carlos Sainz Jnr puts the first two laps on Williams’ new FW47 on the short track at Silverstone.#F1 pic.twitter.com/3nmfWn5CCg
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