Williams gets dressed to the nines for Sin City return

Following closely in the tyre tracks of Ferrari and Alpine, Williams has become the latest F1 team to get all glammed up for the Las Vegas Grand Prix with a special livery.

This is surely the last effort for what has been a busy 2023 for the team’s graphics department, having run a fan-approved Gulf livery earlier this year as well as one-off jobs for the British GP and last month’s US GP.

This time they’ve restrained themselves to the engine cover and rear wing, with a vinyl wrap inspired by the lights that have made Vegas world famous for decades.

Naturally ‘Williams’ is spelled out neon-sign style, and the ‘Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas’ board can be seen just below the (still inspired) Duracell-battery-slash-air-intake. Other brands are available, etcetera.

And why now? Why here? Williams says it wants to celebrate its American ties and also mark Logan Sargeant’s ‘final home race’. With speculation about the young rookie’s future, the caveat ‘of the season’ is suspiciously absent. Hmm…

Away from the livery hype, this weekend’s grand prix is a really big deal for the team: it’s currently seventh in the constructors’ standings with just two races to go, although AlphaTauri scored decent points last time out in Brazil so it’s not game over just yet.

Who’s your money on? We’ll stop with the Vegas gags soon, promise…