How Williams Stole Ferrari’s Martini Deal and Won

Claire Williams proudly secured Martini’s sponsorship, outpacing Ferrari, whose frustration led to a complaint letter to the Italian firm.

As Williams F1 secures a title sponsor for the 2025 season with the arrival of Atlassian, the team lands its first major deal since Martini—setting aside the fiasco with Rokit in 2020.

The team, set to unveil its FW47 in a temporary livery tomorrow, adopted the colors of the alcoholic beverage Martini in 2014. Claire Williams revealed that the contract was won by offering the Italian firm the entire car for its branding, securing a deal that seemed almost destined for Ferrari.

“I was very proud to have secured that contract at the time because Martini was about to sign an agreement with Ferrari,” said Williams, who revealed the Scuderia’s strong displeasure. “But I think they wanted more than what Ferrari was willing to offer. The Ferrari livery is the Ferrari livery, and you can’t really tamper with it.”

“But at Williams, we offered them the full livery of our race car. We said, ‘Why not bring back the incredibly iconic Martini stripes and put them on our car? Look, we’ve prepared a concept of what it could look like—doesn’t it look stunning?’”

“In the end, most fans acknowledged that the 2014 livery was very beautiful, but Ferrari was furious because they believed we had stolen their sponsorship. Ferrari even wrote a letter to Martini saying, ‘We’ll see you in our rearview mirrors next season since you’re now sponsoring Williams.’”

Reality, however, proved different, and Claire Williams took double pride in finishing ahead of Ferrari: “And then Williams finished third in the constructors’ standings behind Mercedes and Red Bull Racing—and ahead of Ferrari, of course. And, yes, of course, it crossed my mind to tell them, ‘We didn’t just snatch the title sponsorship from under your nose—we beat you.’”