Williams books Feb 3 reveal for FW48 as fan-voted camo hits Barcelona first
Williams will show off its 2026 look on February 3, confirming a livery launch at Grove days after the team completes its opening Barcelona running with a fan-voted camouflage scheme.
The FW48 will turn its first miles in special disguise during a five-day outing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya before the “real” colors are unveiled back at base. It’s a neat two-step: tease the shapes in camo, save the branding splash for the factory stage. And there’s more than just paint in play — Williams has already trailed an identity refresh for 2026, including a return to the classic ‘Forward W’ logo that defined the team’s early F1 era.
The timing drops soon after Mercedes’ plan to publish W17 renders on January 22 ahead of its own season launch, as team launch dates stack up across the grid. With most squads now penciled in, McLaren is the outlier still to mark its calendar.
Williams arrives at this moment with momentum and a hint of swagger. The team banked its best campaign in nearly a decade in 2025, finishing fifth in the Constructors’ Championship and grabbing podiums along the way courtesy of Carlos Sainz. That result backed up the mood music coming out of Grove over the past 12 months: incremental, no-drama gains behind the scenes translating into points on Sundays.
Team boss James Vowles hasn’t exactly been hiding his satisfaction — or his ambition. “Our two drivers have gelled together, they form a world-class line-up,” he said, reflecting on a year that outstripped even his internal targets. “If you asked me 12 months ago, what’s your best expectation, I wouldn’t have fifth on my bingo card or three podiums, including a sprint race.”
What makes that note more intriguing is Vowles’ insistence that 2026 has been the true north throughout. The FW47, he admitted, barely touched the wind tunnel in-season. “This car in this calendar year has only been a few weeks in the wind tunnel. That’s it,” he said. “It’s more been through improving simulation tools, communication, ways of working, setup, balance characteristics. That’s how we found improvement — which are all items that, for the most part, carry over into our future as well.”
In other words: Williams’ 2025 step wasn’t the result of a Hail Mary update. It was plumbing, process, polish. The sort of groundwork that becomes gold dust when the regulations flip.
Those 2026 rules loom large now, reshaping the balance between aero efficiency and power unit characteristics. Nobody’s about to give away secrets in January, but expect that camo FW48 to hide plenty: tighter packaging, some fresh thinking around bodywork surfaces, and no shortage of focus on drivability for the new spec. Williams’ decision to lean into fan engagement with the camo vote is a smart read of the room, too — a way to keep supporters involved while the engineers keep their cards close.
The branding update feels timely. The Forward W on the nose will hit a nostalgia nerve, but it also signals a team increasingly comfortable with its own identity again. You don’t bring back an icon unless you feel you’ve earned it.
As launch season kicks into gear, Williams’ reveal cadence is tidy: shake it down, keep the intrigue, then roll out the finished look at home. If 2025 was the season Williams remembered how to grind out results, 2026 is the one where we find out whether that foundation can carry the weight of a bigger leap.
Circle February 3. The camo won’t hide the intent.
