F1 Madness

Tag: williams martini racing

  • F1 2018: Williams and Martini Split Ways

    F1 2018: Williams and Martini Split Ways

    It has been announced that the Williams F1 team will split ways with main sponsor Martini at the end of the 2018 season.

    Martini first came on board the Williams team in 2018 which saw a return of the famed red, white, and blue colour scheme to the world’s most elite racing series. While Williams were open to extending the sponsorship agreement the Bacardi Group, which owns the Martini brand, has stated their intention to withdraw all of their interest from Formula 1.

    “We have discussed extending beyond 2018,” says Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams. “While we would both like to do so, the Bacardi Group have told us that they will step away entirely from Formula 1 when our contract expires at the end of this year. They have many brands to support and obviously their strategic priorities evolve over time.”

    While Williams will have received a financial boost from Sergey Sirotkin’s SMP Racing sponsorship the loss of Martini will be a blow to the team.

  • Review: Williams Documentary

    Review: Williams Documentary

    In 2017 the Williams team celebrated four decades in Formula 1 with the release of a documentary that tells the most incredible story of one of the sport’s most successful teams.

    Often sports documentaries have a tendency to be predictable but the perspective from which the Williams story is told is simultaneously unexpected and profound. The film is mainly based on the 1991 book, A Different Kind of Life, written by Lady Virginia Williams, late wife of Sir Frank Williams. As a result the film is infused with the sort of extraordinary authenticity that elevates it well above the average sports documentary.

    There is marvelous input from co-founder and designer extraordinaire Sir Patrick Head who minded the store between 1991 and 1997 during which the team won 59 races and four drivers’ titles. It also charts the tumultuous and highly successful time of teammates Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet in 1986-7.

    But mostly it is about the seemingly unstoppable Sir Frank Williams and his legacy. With nothing but a single-minded obsession with speed Frank Williams created one of the world’s most successful and enduring F1 teams. Despite nearly losing his life in a 1986 car accident, which left him a tetraplegic, his unconquerable resolve and spirit endures to this day. Though the film charts not only the history of the team it also provides a compassionate portrait of not only Sir Frank Williams’ survival against the odds but his voracious passion.

    At 75 years old he remains, technically, as team principal but the duties and responsibilities have, since 2013, fallen to his daughter Claire Williams. Despite more than holding her own as deputy team principal she maintains that she never expected “to be given the keys to the shop”. Sir Frank’s faith in Claire is easily one of the most touching aspects of the film. Further, it is Claire’s presence in the film, her openness when questioned about personal matters, and her poignant readings of excerpts from her mother’s book that create the human connection and shows its sensitivity.

    This film is guaranteed to leave you with a deeper and perhaps even emotional appreciation for Williams and what it means to the sport. What’s more, it if wasn’t there before, it will probably leave you with an insightful reverence for the team. And it will leave you with the unmistakable realization that Williams will never stop fighting, never stop working, and never stop racing.

  • F1 Hungarian GP qualifying: Ferrari locks out the front row

    F1 Hungarian GP qualifying: Ferrari locks out the front row

    The Scuderia Ferrari team stamped their authority all over today’s Hungarian grand prix qualifying session locking out the front row of the grid, leaving the Mercedes team on the second row.

    It was Sebastian Vettel who took the pole position for tomorrow’s race, with a record breaking time of 1:16.276. Team mate Kimi Raikkonen slotted in ever just under two-tenths behind him with a 1:16.244.

    Valtteri Bottas was the quicker of the two Mercedes drivers with a struggling Lewis Hamilton lining up in fourth place. Hamilton has been complaining all weekend about balance, vibrations, and difficulty handling the Mercedes. The W08 is most definitely not happy with the heat around the Hungaroring, especially so when Pirelli’s supersoft tyres are bolted onto the car. The Briton completed the qualifying session just over half a second off Vettel’s pace. And, with pole position being so crucial around the notoriously difficult-to-overtake Hungaroring, Hamilton will have his work cut out for him tomorrow if he intends taking back the championship lead from Vettel – even if there’s only one point currently separating the two world champs.

    The Red Bulls locked out the third row of the grid with Max Verstappen beating Daniel Ricciardo to the fifth spot. The Red Bulls have been looking strong all weekend but just couldn’t put it together to take up position in the second row. Nico Hulkenberg qualified seventh fastest but will take a five place penalty thanks to a gearbox change.

    Both McLaren drivers made it to Q3 and Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne will start from 8th and 9th on the grid respectively, with Carlos Sainz rounding out the top 10 in his Toro Rosso.

    Jolyon Palmer was knocked out in Q2 after setting a time 0.760s slower than his team mate. He beat Force India’s Esteban Ocon to the 11th spot on the grid by just 0.080s. Daniil Kvyat will line up from 13th place with Sergio Perez and Romain Grosjean behind him.

    Kevin Magnussen set an identical time to Perez but missed out on the Q2 spot because the Force India driver set his time first. Rookie Williams driver Lance Stroll was 17th fastest 0.007s off Magnussen and Perez, with Sauber’s Pascal Wehrlein’s lining up behind him in 18th.

    The star of the show must have been Paul Di Resta though. The Scot made his F1 comeback following Felipe Massa being pulled out of the race weekend. He’s been feeling ill and dizzy and the call was made during the final practice session to let Di Resta take the wheel.

    Despite finishing only 19th, Di Resta showed real progress throughout the qualifying session. His five flying lap times looked like this: 1m22.289s, 1m21.218s, 1m21.075s, 1m20.390s, 1m19.868s. That sort of progress can’t be attributed to anything other than proper skill real. He’ll be making his first race start since the 2013 Brazilian grand prix and Marcus Ericsson will line up behind him for tomorrow’s race.

  • Watch: Felipe Massa’s retirement message

    Watch: Felipe Massa’s retirement message

    After 15 years in Formula One Grand Prix racing, Felipe Massa has announced that he will retire from the sport at the end of the 2016 season. Mobil 1 The Grid spoke to the Brazilian as he reflects on an illustrious career in F1 which saw him win 11 races with Scuderia Ferrari after making his debut with Sauber, and which will end with Williams Martini Racing.

  • Meet Williams’ 2016 Challenger – the FW38

    Meet Williams’ 2016 Challenger – the FW38

    The Williams F1 team have unveiled their 2016 Formula One season challenger, releasing images of their Mercedes-powered FW38, ahead of the first pre-season test in Spain next week.

    The team had promised that the 2016 car would be “significantly different”. The FW38 still sports a very familiar nose and the livery is also mostly unchanged but the sidepods and rear do appear to have had some facelifting. More updates are scheduled to come ahead of the first race in Melbourne with Deputy team principal Claire Williams insisting that the FW38 launched today is “by no means the final product”.

    Valtteri Bottas will debut the car in the pit lane at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya at the pre-season test, before handing over to team-mate Felipe Massa in the second half of the week.

    The FW38 will once again be powered by a Mercedes engine – a significant factor in the team’s two third-place finishes in the Formula One Constructors’ Championship over the last two years. The FW38 will retain its Martini sponsorship. The team are confident that the FW38 can deliver what it takes to challenge the front running teams.

    Williams FW38“Williams has started to cement our position back amongst the front running teams after finishing third in the Championship in the past two seasons,” said Williams Team Principal Sir Frank Williams.

    “This has been a great achievement given the resources of those around us. Staying where we are will be a challenge in itself, but we are determined to keep improving because only winning will ever be good enough.

    “We have a very stable team going into 2016, with Felipe [Massa] and Valtteri [Bottas] teaming up for a third successive season. They work well together and both have the ideal blend of speed and consistency. Our technical team has also remained very consistent which will be to our advantage and we have some of the best engineering minds on the grid at our disposal.

    “We have a busy couple of weeks of testing coming up to learn more about our package and to refine the car ahead of the first race. We will have to wait until Melbourne to find out exactly where we stand in the pecking order but I’m confident that our hard work over the winter will stand us in good stead.”

    Deputy team principal Claire Williams added: “2016 promises to be a very competitive year in Formula One and there will be a number of strong teams who have us in their sights. We are confident that we have made a step forward over the winter and that the FW38 will build on the strengths of the FW37 and address some of its weaknesses. We started design work on the car earlier than normal and hopefully this extra development time will stand us in good stead.

    “The car we are launching today is by no means the final product. We are already planning updates for Melbourne and will be pushing for constant improvements over the course of the season. Williams enters 2016 in a strong place. We have a great team of people and over the past two years we have started to regain our competitive edge. Now we need to build on that and take this team back to where we all want it to be.”

    Photo Credits: FW38 images courtesy of Williams Martini Racing

     

  • Hamilton charges to Australian Grand Prix pole

    Hamilton charges to Australian Grand Prix pole

    Lewis Hamilton started his title defence in glorious fashion to claim his first pole position of the season ahead of the Australian Grand Prix.

    Hamilton set a time of 1:26.327, over half a second clear of his team mate Nico Rosberg with both drivers enjoying a good lead over their rivals.

    Rosberg may have done better had he not needed to abort his provisional lap after running off onto the grass at the penultimate corner. Hamilton’s provisional time was at 1:26.419.

    Rosberg then set his only lap time of the session to finish in second place while Hamilton stormed to a time 0.594 seconds  clear of his team mate.

    Felipe Massa brought his Williams home in third place ahead of the two Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen.

    Valtteri Bottas struggled a little through Q3 and needed to abort his first lap. He went on to run wide at the end of his second lap and finished in sixth place. Bottas emerged from his Williams with an apparent injury of some sort to his back. Rob Smedley confirmed that he may have jarred his back a little and the Finn was seen limping off to the medical centre. There has been no further confirmation of the situation.

    Australian home favourite, Daniel Ricciardo, has had a tough weekend all round but managed to get his Red Bull qualified in seventh place ahead of Toro Rosso rookie driver Carlos Sainz Jr.

    The Lotus team managed to get both of their drivers through to Q3 and French driver Romain Grosjean finished ahead of Pastor Maldonado to round out the Top 10.

    Felipe Nasr narrowly missed out on a slot in Q3 and will start ahead of F1’s youngest ever driver, Max Verstappen. Verstappen put in an impressive performance in Q1 but had a “big moment” in Turn 5 during Q2.

    Daniil Kvyat faced a massive upward struggle during FP3 and despite seeming unlikely that he would even start his qualifying, he managed to post the 13th fastest time.

    The Force India duo Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez came in next followed by the Q1 drop outs Marcus Ericsson, and the McLaren drivers Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen.

    The McLarens were excrutiatingly slow with Button finishing almost 3 seconds off the pace. The big expectations for the McLaren Honda partnership have left many fans very disappointed and desperately worried about what is going on with the MP4-30.

    The Manor Marussia team will not be allowed to take part in the race after failing to get their cars onto the track this weekend.

    Photo Credit: Mercedes AMG Petronas

    Lap Time sheets below:

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  • F1 Video: Coolest pit stop ever by Williams Martini Racing and Hackett London

    F1 Video: Coolest pit stop ever by Williams Martini Racing and Hackett London

    Any fan of Formula One loves a good pit stop. And we’ve seen some pretty awesome pit stops in the past! Check out what must be the coolest F1 pit stop ever by the Willams Martini Racing team in this ad for team sponsor Hackett London.

  • Williams F1 Announce Martini as their Title Sponsor

    Williams F1 Announce Martini as their Title Sponsor

    The iconic Martini brand returns to Formula One as the title Sponsor of the Williams F1.

    Martini, the world’s leading vermouth and best-selling Italian sparkling wine, will have the iconic red, blue and white colours on the Williams FW36 for the 2014 season.

    “We are thrilled to welcome Martini to the Williams family and officially launch Williams Martini Racing,” said Sir Frank Williams, Founder and Team Principal.

    “Williams and Martini share a rich history in the world of motorsport, and the values of our two brands and our shared passion for racing make this partnership a natural fit. It will be great to see the distinctive stripes of Martini Racing return to Formula One once again in unison with Williams.”

    “The decision to partner with Williams was a natural one for us as it provides an unparalleled opportunity for the Martini brand to connect with consumers through one of their lifestyle passions, Formula One racing,” said Andy Gibson, Chief Marketing Officer of Bacardi and President of Bacardi Global Brands, who oversees marketing for Martini other premium brands in the Bacardi portfolio. “Martini will give consumers a taste of life in the fast lane, bringing a renewed sense of Italian style and glamour to the track and beyond. Williams Martini Racing provides a powerful, integrated marketing platform and delivers dynamic opportunities that will strengthen the Martini brand.”