Williams names 2027 F1 car FW50 for 50th anniversary

Williams will name its 2027 Formula 1 car the FW50 for the team’s 50th anniversary, the year it becomes only the third team in F1 history to log 50 consecutive years in the championship.

After the 2026 FW48, the next car would ordinarily have been called FW49. Williams is skipping that step, as it did when it jumped from FW38 to FW40 for its 40th-anniversary season.

A show car of the FW50 will be part of a wider programme, whose centrepiece is W50 Live: a ticketed event open to the public at Waterloo in London from 11 to 28 February 2027. The exhibition will take visitors through five decades of Williams history, with championship-winning cars and memorabilia.

The London venue also ties the event to the team’s origins. In 2027, it will be just over 50 years since founder Frank Williams found co-founder Patrick Head working in a garage beneath a London railway arch; the celebrations will again take place beneath the capital’s arches.

Among the cars on display will be the FW06, the first car built by Williams Grand Prix Engineering; the FW11B that carried Nelson Piquet to the 1987 title; and the FW14B that secured Nigel Mansell’s championship in 1992. Later in the 2027 season, fans can vote on a one-off Williams livery for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Williams’ record stands at nine constructors’ championships, seven drivers’ titles and 114 Grand Prix victories.