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Williams’ 2022 challenger, the FW44, will be the first F1 car from the team that won’t feature a tribute to the late Ayrton Senna. The team have announced that they are “moving on” from their past, and therefore, their new cars won’t be featuring tributes to the four-time F1 world champion.
Speaking in an interview with Autosport after the launch of their 2022 car, Williams CEO Jost Capito said:
“The decision was that we want to move on in the future. We have a new era; we have a new car. And we refurbished also our museum, and where we have a special area to celebrate Ayrton. I think we had to look now in the future and not showing the drivers the ‘S’ all the time they get in the car and being reminded of what happened. 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.”
Since the 1995 season, Williams has included a special “S” on their cars’ nosecones as a tribute to the late Brazilian, who tragically lost his life in 1994 while driving for the team.
Starting in the 2022 season, the Senna tribute will be featured in the refurbished Williams museum rather than their F1 cars. Capito further revealed that the team didn’t consult with the Senna’s family on the decision. Moreover, the team will continue their support for the Ayrton Senna foundation.
Since taking over the team at the end of 2020, new owners Dorilton Capital have sought to revitalize the struggling team’s brand image. Last season, the intermediate management introduced a radical new livery that harked back to their glory days from the late 80s and the early 90s.
New CEO Capito, however, has taken a different approach, leading the team away from its distant past and into the future. The team struggled for competitiveness for much of the turbo-hybrid era and spent nearly three years at the very back of the grid. Williams is now hoping to bounce back in 2022, exploiting the sweeping new regulation changes.
Ayrton Senna’s much anticipated debut for Williams ended in tragedy
Four-time F1 world champion Ayrton Senna left McLaren at the end of 1993 to finally join Williams the following season after nearly three years of waiting. The much-anticipated season was expected to be immensely successful for both parties, with Senna the favorite to clinch his fifth title and Williams, their third consecutive constructors’ title.
Unfortunately, the season turned out to be a disaster early on, with the Brazilian tragically losing his life during the third race of the season at Imola. An unexpected challenge from a young Michael Schumacher and Benetton, combined with driveability issues with Williams, led to Senna failing to score a single point during the first two rounds.
Heading into the third round, Ayrton Senna was determined to make up for the lost ground. He convincingly beat Schumacher to pole and led the early part of the race. On the safety car restart, however, he crashed heavily after his steering column broke, instantly succumbing to his head injuries.
By the end of the season, Williams had lost the drivers’ title to Schumacher despite Damon Hill’s best efforts, but managed to clinch the constructors' title by a narrow margin.
