The FW44 went out on track for the very first time this Tuesday afternoon in Silverstone. Ahead of the shake down, which had to be delayed until an hour later due to an “issue on the electronics”, Williams had unveiled the new livery on a show-car instead of the actual FW44.

“Because we worked on the livery — and working on the livery we wanted to have that perfect. That’s why we could only have it on the show car because it took a little while to do,” Capito explained.

“The race car itself is just getting ready … and we will have some photos from that car. We just wanted to show something proper on the livery.”

For the first time since 1994 Williams’ livery doesn’t feature the Ayrton Senna Foundation “S” logo.

“We have a new era, we have a new car and we refurbished also our museum, where we have a special area where we celebrate Ayrton,” said Capito.

“I think we need to look now in the future and not showing the drivers the ’S’ all the time in the car and not reminding them what happened. I think now it’s time for the team to move on and be very honourable to Senna and having a very dedicated space in the museum and honour him there.”

“We didn’t have a consultation or talk with the family. But we are working with the foundation and we will increase our efforts with the foundation and then work with it how we can support the Senna foundation more. I think there are more people that will benefit from this and if it can help people, especially through the foundation, I think that’s a very good program; but it still has to be finally defined.”

On the livery there is also another absence that is quite noticeable: sponsors.

Sponsors that the team can now – that is owned by investment firm Dorilton Capital- afford to select carefully without having to indulge in partnerships that don’t fit the “Williams brand”.  

Williams has no title sponsor since the sudden split with ROKiT just before the start of the 2020 season and Capito says they are “not actively” looking for one.

“We have redefined our brand. We have very strict brand guidelines and every sponsor who comes in has to fit to our brand strategy and guidelines,” he commented.

“So Dorilton gives us a free hand in that. We can decline offers because we don’t believe the brand fits with the Williams brand.”

The team, however, has finalised an important deal with Duracell during the off-season.

“Duracell is the first step, the first company to show they believe in Williams’s future.”

“We created a good relationship during discussions and negotiations. I think it shows that big global companies believe not only in F1 but also Williams. Also, Netflix [and its Drive To Survive series] helps in the US.”

“For global companies, there’s no doubt. But we see in negotiations with sponsors people believe in the Williams story, they believe we are in a position to move up the grid and a couple of companies are really interested to join us on that journey and be part of it.”