Williams FW43B allegedly leaked online

Williams’ 2021 challenger, the FW43B, is due to be officially launched at 2pm today.

With it, comes a funky new use of technology, as users can download an augmented reality (AR) app and virtually place the Williams FW43B anywhere in their home – be it their living room, on their driveway or their kitchen table – and have a look around it in 3D.

However, with these interesting new opportunities to explore way of sharing content via technology come new ways of your top secret content being leaked, and it appears as if someone has been able to hack into the app, have a dig around what’s inside and pull out images of the car, its new livery and even CAD models of the car.

These images have been posted to Reddit and shared widely among an action starved F1 fan community on social media, somewhat stealing Williams’ thunder (if they indeed prove to be what they are claimed to be).

In the CAD models you can see the changes to the floor just ahead of the back wheels that is a new regulatory change for 2021, which would suggest that the app contains at least an updated version of the FW43, if not the real/latest FW43B.

The livery is a sort of sporty blue/light blue stripy number, reminiscent of the Red Bull Saubers of the early 2000s on the main body of the car, with a white nose, and a couple of flashes of yellow. Not sure what the significance of the yellow is, if indeed there is any.

The design of the livery is geometric, flying in the face of the flowing lines that form the majority of 2021’s Formula 1 cars’ liveries.

One thing that immediately is that there are large spaces on the body of the car – in prime saleable locations – where you’d expect a sponsor to be.

I can’t say for sure whether or not it is Williams’ new car, but given that F1 cars in 2021 are simply updates of last years cars, if it was leaked it really wouldn’t be giving too much away.

What is brand new though is the livery. And I have to say, I’m not a fan. It’s a design that would look more at home on a 1990s shell suit than on a Williams Grand Prix car.