Why Williams F1's "biggest ever" title sponsorship needed a separate launch

Formula 1 might be launching its 75th anniversary season with a spectacular show at London’s O2 Arena on Tuesday, but the seven minutes allocated to each team isn’t enough for some. And while McLaren, as reigning constructors’ champion, could reasonably be expected to step beyond the boundaries of what FOM’s show is prepared to give before the microphones are forcibly faded down, what has Williams – an outfit which drifted backwards from an already humble position last year – got to bang the drum about?

Both McLaren and Williams shook down their new cars at Silverstone this week, albeit running in ‘temporary’ liveries to avoid incurring FOM’s wrath, and accompanied these with events for fans and media. But while McLaren’s messaging was chiefly about continuity of purpose from last season, Williams was signalling change and renewal all round.

Indeed, those spectators playing the James Vowles drinking game – a shot or two fingers every time the Williams team principal utters the word “journey” or similar – would have been well oiled before the FW47 emerged from the garage. Add mentions of new title sponsor Atlassian to the list and they would have been under the table by the time host Steve Jones was halfway through his repertoire of edgy comedy material.

In a world where car ‘reveals’ amount to little more than embargoed livery renders as a preamble to rolling the real thing out of the garage for the first time in testing – we’re a long way from Mario Andretti being lowered from the roof of the Paradis du Latin in a tuxedo – this was quite an ambitious event, livestreamed to the public.

Being live, there were the inevitable gremlins: the team working in the garage next door chose the precise moment the stream began to fire up the FW47’s engine, drowning out the on-stage interviews; and the sight of Jenson Button and Naomi Schiff having to fill time before the car emerged into the pitlane called to mind Sam Fox, Mick Fleetwood and the stuck autocue at the 1989 Brit Awards. 

Students of history might also be scratching their chins at the description of the Atlassian arrangement as this team’s “biggest ever” title sponsorship deal, a claim Vowles made upon its announcement and again during the livestream. Not only that, he doubled down by suggesting it was one of the biggest partnerships in F1.

Atlassian is the first title sponsor of Williams Racing since ROKiT in 2019

Photo by: Williams

Given Williams has won nine constructors’ and seven drivers’ championships, partnered with the likes of Honda, Renault and BMW, and enjoyed Rothmans sponsorship (among others) at the peak of tobacco spending, this seemed unlikely. Industry observers estimate the monetary value of it to be in the region of $40million per year – about what Aramco is paying F1.

More significant, perhaps, is that a company of this size should choose to partner a team which has spent the majority of the past two decades inhabiting the bottom third of the grid. Atlassian might not trip off the tongue but the NASDAQ-listed software and project management tool company has a market capitalisation of over $66bn, and co-founder and CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes is a member of the billionaire club.

“We have shared values,” said Vowles, when asked by Autosport to be more specific about what constituted the scale of the deal. “When I met Mike back in Austin last year we just gelled, because fundamentally we are two completely different organisations built on the exact same beliefs.

Insiders say one of the prime motivations for putting the FW47 on track ahead of FOM’s O2 extravaganza was to demonstrate the magnitude of the transformation – not just to fans, influencers and media but also to the sponsors

“And the next element I've always said, all the way through, is this modern Formula 1 – I don't think it's going to be about replicating the same R&D assets that you had before. It's about being clever and making sure we're pushing technology, and Atlassian have done that in their world.

“To have a partner like that on board is incredibly important to me and to our plan. The importance is threefold. One is a financial element. Two, I have a company that could have gone to a number of different areas, to be completely clear, but they believe in what we're doing. They have trust and faith in what we're doing and that's really important to me.

“And number three is they are experts in the technologies that I need in order to be successful within the sport. And that's the core part of the deal. It's not just a sticker on the car, it’s transformative.”

Vowles believes the title sponsorship will transform the fortunes of Williams

Photo by: Williams

Hence the conversion of a cold pair of garages at Silverstone into a full-on ‘brand experience’ with partners, influencers and competition-winning fans invited alongside the scriveners of the fourth estate. Williams is already beginning to extract more value from the deal than it would in seven minutes at the O2.

More significant still was the presence and visibility of the FW47. At McLaren’s Silverstone event, photography and video were banned – here it was positively encouraged and the garage doors were rolled up to facilitate it as the car departed the pits for the first time.

Of course, McLaren has one of the fastest cars on the grid, while the Williams is perhaps not at the top of anyone’s list of cars from which to copy ideas. But the point the team wanted to prove was that it was running its new car, not an old one with a different paint job.

Last year the FW46 barely made it to the first test and was substantially overweight, though this represented an improvement on the FW42, which was late to the first test of 2019 and not even legal, causing heads to roll in the technical department. Insiders say one of the prime motivations for putting the FW47 on track ahead of FOM’s O2 extravaganza was to demonstrate the magnitude of the transformation – not just to fans, influencers and media but also to the sponsors.

Show, don’t tell – the essence of getting a story across.

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Photo by: Williams