Williams will sport a special livery for the Spanish Grand Prix, inspired by the one used by the team during the last Formula 1 visit to Madrid in 1981, at the Jarama circuit.
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A nod to a historic season during which Williams won the constructors’ championship and Nelson Piquet the drivers’ title.
The Madring will host its very first Formula 1 Grand Prix this weekend, but Madrid is not entirely foreign to the sport. The Jarama circuit had indeed hosted the world championship eleven times between 1967 and 1981.
Connecting the past and the present
To celebrate this return to the Spanish capital, Williams decided to dive back into its history with a design directly inspired by its 1981 car. At the time, the team, notably supported by Leyland and the Saudi national airline, used a livery mainly white with green and black elements.
The modern version incorporates several of these features. The car notably retains diagonal green and blue stripes on its rear part, while adapting the historic design to the current identity of Williams and its main partner Atlassian.
For James Vowles, this livery is not just a nostalgic exercise. The Williams director wants to use the team’s history as a source of inspiration in its project to return to the forefront.
“Our mission to get back to the front of the grid draws on everything we have achieved before, is inspired by it and builds on it,” explains Vowles. “I am extremely proud to celebrate this with this special Atlassian livery, which creates a link between the team we were at Jarama and the one we are becoming today, thanks to targeted collaboration, better technological innovation, and true creativity.”
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The memory of a historic finish at Jarama
This reference to 1981 holds a special meaning for Williams. That year, Nelson Piquet drove the FW07C to the world drivers’ title, while the British team also secured the constructors’ championship.
The last Grand Prix held in Madrid is also famous for its extremely close finish. Gilles Villeneuve won for Ferrari ahead of Jacques Laffite, driving his Ligier, and John Watson in a McLaren. Carlos Reutemann finished fourth with Williams, ahead of Elio de Angelis’s Lotus. Remarkably, only 1.24 seconds separated the top five at the checkered flag.
At a time when only the top six scored points, Nigel Mansell took the last available point driving his Lotus, 28 seconds behind the leading group. The Briton would later become world champion with Williams in 1992.
Mike Cannon-Brookes, co-founder and CEO of Atlassian, also sees this design as a way to connect Williams’ history to its future: “The best teams don’t put their history in a trophy cabinet. They integrate it into how they work. That’s the whole idea behind this livery. The knowledge accumulated by a team over the years should help make better decisions tomorrow, not just look nice on a wall.”
Forty-five years after the last Formula 1 appearance in Madrid, Williams will therefore use the first Grand Prix held on the Madring to pay tribute to one of the most glorious periods in its history.
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