The long overdue departure from Martini liveries has finally come, but does a revitalised look help to revitalise form?
Cheers son’s crying nice one. You had the chance to rock(it?) our worlds, instead you left us with good but not Carling. There’s hope with this livery, that’s for sure, I just think it’s just a halfway house. It’s neither a white livery with hints of blue nor a blue livery with hints of white. That baby blue looks really nice, I hope Williams adopt this for seasons to come. The car from the front view actually looks decent. It’s just those awful fades between blue and white around the sidepod that really get on my nerves. Who is the person that thought putting black or navy on a blue background would make sponsors pop to the audience who will generally see this car at speeds in excess of 150mph? The concept for a good livery is there, it just doesn’t feel developed enough to me.
However, thinking of amendments to the livery, there are simple and clear directions Williams can take their designs in the future. Either they paint the entire car baby blue, using flashes of white for the sponsors, and they’d have a unique shade of blue and a simple yet effective design, or they can remove the black from this year’s car and have a much nicer aesthetic around the engine cover and rear wing, maybe even sharpen the fades too. Ironically enough, that halfway house is where I’d rank it out of the liveries we’ve had so far. Better than Haas, worse than Toro Rosso.
I really hope it looks nice on track, I feel like a right connoisseur reviewing these liveries, just criticising for criticising’s sake, and that’s not what this blog is about. I’d really like to write about stuff bigging up teams, and I feel like those who’ve got new partners or are operating under new guises have the perfect chance to be bold. It’s what I said for Haas, be bold, don’t miss your chance. That’s why it’s disappointing when you’re looking forward to a clean design and colour scheme, especially from Williams who more often than not do this. Williams was one of the teams I was hyped to see this Winter, because it probably was going to be a return to red like the Winfield liveries, or that deep blue from post BMW Williams in the noughties. This new baby blue is actually a brilliant departure from that, but the execution is a little underwhelming.
I said on twitter (cheeky plug) that this livery was refreshing. The Martini livery had so many opportunities and for the team to only use one design was a big shame, and ended up like last week’s loaf of bread, left to one side and gone all stale. The branding for the garage and hospitality was better actually. There was this ribbon motif where the Martini stripes were more free flowing. I would’ve loved to see this given a go on the car, it would be an ode to Stewart GP for sure, but change would’ve been welcomed with open arms and a nice cup of tea by us folks online. Even another stripe on the car somewhere, or using the Martini colours as a scheme in itself without the white. Ok maybe that last one was going a bit far, but the point stands – Williams you should’ve changed changed it up you eejits!
Two rants in two days, I need to get out more.
Poles Apart
Back in ye olden days when the year was 2010, there was a young boy who would keep an eye out for a certain yellow car, which had his favourite livery adorned on it. There was a particular man who this young boy used to love watch pilot this yellow car. His name? Robert Kubica. The little boy’s name? He was me! :p
I probably supported him more because the Renault looked nice that year but looking back in retrospect, I really begin to see that I loved the driver too. He was always bloody fast and had a wickedly dry sense of humour. You’ll want to check out the response to being asked if he remembered his crash in Canada 2007, for those who aren’t aware.
I really hope Robert can find that pace that was so electric. He would be world champion if not for his horrific crash in 2011. One piece of commentary that has always been stuck in my mind was from Martin Brundle at the end of the 2011 Australian GP. Vitaly Petrov drove his Lotus-Renault to a third place finish which was seriously impressive at the time. It was during the cool down lap where Brundle asked “Where would Robert Kubica have finished if he was in that car?” Possibly winning. It wouldn’t have made that much of a difference; that Lotus-Renault was a dog of a car if my memory serves me correct.
If Robert is as fast now as he was then, Russell has his work cut out. He is one hot prospect that’s for sure, but we’ve said the same of Stoffel Vandoorne. Russell’s made it to Formula 1, now he has to work hard and show why he’s highly regarded by Mercedes and journalists alike. It is thought that Kubica will struggle around the tight circuits like Melbourne and Monaco because of his defect. These are rounds early on that George has to take convincingly if he wants to show he is Britain’s next hope.
It’s difficult to read this battle, but I have no doubt that Russell’s every move will be scrutinised A) because he’ll have the British press eyeing him as the next Lewis and B) because he’s going up against a race winning rookie in Robert Kubica. Robert’s been away for so long we don’t know how he’s going to perfom, so the best benchmark is always the team mate in this case George. I really hope that both can succeed, but it’s a dog eat dog world in F1.
Williams are also difficult read as a package this year. We could possibly see a 2014 style season where despite recent struggles, they’ve produce a quick package capable of major points, possibly pushing Renault, Haas, McLaren, Racing Point for the increasingly coveted 4th place. It’s also equally possible that we see their struggles continue, which if they are down a development hole will happen. They’re so hard to read I’m actually going to refrain from predictions for this team, because no doubt I’ll look like a right eejit.
George Talks 