Williams is turning the clock back in Madrid, swapping the familiar modern-day colours of its FW48 for a striking throwback scheme that reaches deep into one of the most successful chapters in the team’s history.
For this weekend’s inaugural Spanish Grand Prix on the streets of the Spanish capital, Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon will race a special white, green and navy-blue livery inspired by the championship-winning FW07C that Williams fielded when Formula 1 last competed in Madrid in 1981.
The one-off design was unveiled at a fan event in Madrid’s Plaza de Callao, with home hero Sainz on hand for the occasion.
It is a particularly fitting piece of nostalgia. The last time F1 came roaring into Madrid, the action unfolded at the Circuito de Jarama, where Alan Jones and Carlos Reutemann carried Williams into the 1981 campaign.
Forty-five years later, Sainz will bring the Williams name back to his home city — although this time the backdrop is the brand-new, 22-turn Madring rather than the old Jarama circuit.
A ghost from Williams’ glory days
The retro colours do more than simply provide a visual trip down memory lane. Williams has deliberately framed the livery as a bridge between its past and the long-term project of rebuilding the team into a front-running force.
The FW07C represents precisely the kind of heritage Williams wants to carry forward: engineering ingenuity, painstaking attention to detail and a team capable of converting those qualities into championship success.
The team summed up the thinking behind the design by saying:
“From the engineers who developed the FW07C to the team mates preparing the FW48, the same spirit of innovation, precision and teamwork continues to shape Williams.”
The livery was created with title and technology partner Atlassian and deliberately connects the car now circulating around Madrid with the Williams machine that last raced there in 1981.
There is also an unmistakably personal dimension to the occasion. Sainz was born and raised in Madrid and began his racing career there, making the city's first modern F1 weekend a homecoming of sorts.
Vowles: ‘The car looks fantastic’
For James Vowles, however, the retro exercise is not about living in the past. Instead, the Williams team principal sees the old colours as a reminder of the principles the team wants to apply to its future.
“Our mission to get back to the front of the grid is drawn from, inspired by and informed by everything we've done before,” he said.
“I am incredibly proud to celebrate that through Atlassian’s special livery, connecting the team we were at Jarama with the team we are becoming today through focused collaboration, improved technological innovation, and real creativity.
“The car looks fantastic, and I cannot wait to see it lapping around Madrid.”
The timing could hardly be more symbolic.
Williams enters its homecoming weekend in Madrid looking to rekindle some of the competitive spirit represented by those famous 1981 colours.
The team finished an impressive fifth in the 2025 constructors’ championship, but the 2026 campaign has been considerably more difficult: Williams currently sits ninth with 11 points and has gone eight Grands Prix weekends without adding to its tally.
So as the FW48 emerges in its vintage disguise beneath the Madrid sunshine, there will be more than nostalgia in the air.
Williams is dressing its present in the colours of its past — hoping, perhaps, that a little of the old magic comes along for the ride.
Read also: Williams still running ‘huge number of projects’ to fix winter errors
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