Is This The 2009 Williams FW31 Livery?
It would seem as though Allianz, sponsor of the Williams team, have posted photos of the new livery that will adorn the FW31 car this season. On their Formula One site, they have put up nine images taken at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve near Portimão in Portugal. The photographs depict a style not too far removed from Williams’s recent liveries, using blue and white as the base colours. The livery looks fantastic, although why the team do not just use their much loved testing livery is beyond me.
The livery was actually leaked over a week ago when F1Today.nl showed a picture of the Williams parked up in a garage with a different colour scheme to the one being used on the test car. It is unknown when Williams were intending to unveil the new livery, but thanks to their own sponsor, it would appear to have been leaked a little earlier than planned.
Images © Williams/Allianz SE.
Keith Collantine
February 20th, 2009 - 6:56pm
Three in a row for Williams then!
Well spotted, Ollie.
Oliver White
February 20th, 2009 - 7:39pm
I reckon they do it on purpose.
I didn’t get what I wanted though, Allianz have taken down their rather excellent archive of images from the past three years. (Which means you’re all gonna have to wait a bit longer for the real Williams Livery post!)
Becken
February 20th, 2009 - 8:51pm
Ollie – do you know anything about a new sponsor, Saudi Airlines or something like that?
Oliver White
February 20th, 2009 - 9:18pm
Not sure about Saudi Airlines. Williams are sponsored by Air Asia, but they are not a new sponsor as they were on the car last year. It seems a bit silly to promote two airlines, so I’m not buying into that rumour. Although Sidepodcast (and Maverick and co., who I just found out spotted the photos before me this afternoon) are under the impression the team will announce a new sponsor with their official launch of the new livery. So who knows!?
One thing is for sure, if true it wouldn’t be the first time a Saudi airline company has sponsored the team…
Williams FW08 from 1980.
Steven Roy
February 20th, 2009 - 9:44pm
In this week’s Autosport Frank Williams said there would be a new sponsor on the car who would be revealed soon.
Milos
February 21st, 2009 - 9:54am
not as nice as the all dark blue but still a great looking livery
Kotenok
February 21st, 2009 - 2:35pm
I have serious dubts on it… I’ve already explained it here:
http://www.f1wolf.com/2009/02/williams-fw31-final-livery-photos.html
Oliver White
February 21st, 2009 - 5:08pm
Thanks Steven. I don’t bother buying the print edition anymore, but clearly I missed out on that information.
I think this year’s blue (on the regular livery) is maybe a touch lighter as well. It’s a shame, because the dark blue just looks gorgeous.
I replied on Milos’s site, basically saying that I agree the photos are old – Nakajima’s car has a 2008 front wing attached and as you spotted, gills on the rear of the bodywork.
empii
February 27th, 2009 - 11:16pm
New livery got released today.
I’m sorry the pics have such bad quality, but I found no better ones yet:
http://www.motorsport-total.com/bilder/2009/090227/z1235743071.jpg
http://www.motorsport-total.com/bilder/2009/090227/z1235743062.jpg
Funny, the nose on those shots in the post seem totally wrong, as they had the high, wide nose on the testsessions and also on the livery-promotional-shoots from today. Interesting for sure are the extra-wings beside the airbox, reminding of the viking-horns McLaren introduced (and BMW-Sauber copied) once (I think 2005) to Formula 1.
empii
February 27th, 2009 - 11:31pm
Sorry, that I have to add that in a seperate comment so shortly after the last one:
You can also see more offical (and still very small) images on the offical williams-website:
http://williams.latphoto.co.uk/
Oliver White
February 28th, 2009 - 12:43am
Arghh, I knew there was something I was meant to post today. Thanks for the reminder empii, and the links.
Am I right in thinking the blue is much lighter than previous? It certainly looks it. And I must say, I think of all the recent Williams liveries (‘06 onwards), this is the worst. In my opinion, 2007 was the best. I liked the light blue touches.
I see it too. It looks very different, and again, I think I preferred the old one – it made the front wing look less wide!
But, if it is better for the performance of the car, then they have to do it. C’mon Team Willy, it’s time to return to good form!
empii
February 28th, 2009 - 12:48am
No problem, we all do forget things sometimes, this time it was you, next time I have to thank YOU for infos again
.
Yes, the blue is much lighter, they announced it as “new royal blue” today. Maybe they want to show up a brighter future than the last “dark” years (that fits their success in the past so well
) but I surely liked the “blue close to black” hell a lot better.
I even go so far and think this is the worst livery after Renault that year… very dissapointing after I think the shape is the most beautiful after the McLaren :/.
Oliver White
February 28th, 2009 - 1:02am
Well they might call it “Royal”, but it isn’t as nice as the old. I like your explanation though, a “brighter future”.
Not sure I’d go that far, but I do see where you’re coming from. They both rank pretty low for me as well.
It was the photo of the interim Williams at Kemble Airfield (the first image that showed how an ‘09 car will look*) that made me say something like, “Ah, okay. Maybe the new regs won’t make the cars look quite as bad as I thought they would.”
I’m sort of somewhere in between at the moment. The cars don’t look as bad as I thought they would, but the wings still look… not fast. Big, clunky, slow.
*Aside from the BMW, which I hoped was a mistake at the time.