Williams FW47
The Williams FW47 was a Formula One racing car designed and constructed by Williams which competed in the 2025 Formula [One World Championship]. The car was driven by Alexander Albon and Carlos Sainz Jr., both in their fourth and first seasons with the team respectively. A remarkable improvement over its predecessor, the FW47 scored two Grand Prix podiums, one Grand Prix fastest lap and one sprint podium, all podiums being scored by new signee Sainz.
Background
Livery
The car was launched on 14 February 2025 at Silverstone Circuit in a one-off camo livery; it was driven by Sainz.The 2025 livery was unveiled on 18 February 2025 at the F1 75 Live event at The O2 Arena with the other teams. The team has raced with three special liveries: one at the 2025 [United States Grand Prix|United States Grand Prix] which paid homage to the team's partnership with BMW, one at the 2025 [São Paulo Grand Prix|São Paulo Grand Prix] in partnership with Gulf Oil, and one at the 2025 [Las Vegas Grand Prix|Las Vegas Grand Prix] that featured Atlassian's Rovo toolset.
Competition and development history
During pre-season testing at Bahrain International Circuit, new signee Sainz set the fastest time of 1:29.348.The Australian Grand Prix saw both Williams cars enter Q3, with Albon qualifying sixth and Sainz tenth. However, Sainz experienced a torque issue with his car that sent him into the wall and into retirement. The lone Williams of Albon finished in fifth, the team's highest finishing result since the rain-affected 2021 Belgian Grand Prix.
At the Chinese Grand Prix, Albon qualified ninth and Sainz thirteenth for the sprint race; neither car finished in the points as Albon finished eleventh and Sainz in seventeenth. During qualifying, Albon got into Q3, qualifying tenth while Sainz was knocked out in Q2 in fifteenth. On race day Albon briefly led the race on lap 16, the first time a Williams had led a race since the 2015 British Grand Prix by Valtteri Bottas; after the race, Albon initially finished ninth and Sainz twelfth, however a post race disqualification for both Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly's Alpine would promote both Albon and Sainz to seventh and tenth respectively, scoring their first double points since the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix where both cars finished seventh and eighth.
In Japan, Albon got into Q3, qualifying ninth and Sainz qualified twelfth but received a 3-place grid penalty for impeding Lewis Hamilton on his final run in Q2, thus dropping Sainz down to fifteenth. In the race, Albon finished ninth and Sainz finished fourteenth.
At the 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix, Sainz got into Q3 for the second time in 2025, in eighth, but Albon was out in Q2, qualifying fifteenth. On race day, Sainz sustained collision damage following his contact with the Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda on lap 31, resulting in a retirement for Sainz. Albon finished twelfth just behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli.
Later in the season, by qualifying second for the 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Sainz claimed the best qualifying result for Williams since. He went on to finish third, achieving Williams' first podium since the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix. He then proceeded to claim his second podium in the season by finishing third once again at the 2025 Qatar Grand Prix. Albon claimed his maiden fastest lap at the 2025 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
And thus, this was Williams' best season since 2017 where they finished fifth in the standings 2017 Formula One World Championship as their points tally was higher than in 2018-2024.