Williams will mark its 50th anniversary in 2027 by naming next year's challenger the FW50, skipping the usual chassis numbering to honour half a century in Formula 1.
The Grove-based squad's new car would ordinarily have carried the FW49 designation, following this year's FW48. But Williams has opted to jump straight to FW50, mirroring the leap it made from FW38 to FW40 for its 40th anniversary season.
A show car of the FW50 will form part of a wider calendar of celebrations announced by the team, with fans placed "at the heart of the action" throughout the milestone year.
The centrepiece of the anniversary will be 'W50 Live', a ticketed event open to the public from 11-28 February in Waterloo, London.
The multi-sensory exhibition will take fans through five decades of Williams history, featuring championship-winning cars and some of the team's most iconic memorabilia.
The choice of venue carries symbolic weight. Just over 50 years after founder Frank Williams discovered co-founder Patrick Head working in a garage under a London railway arch, the team will celebrate its legacy beneath the capital's railway arches again.
That legacy spans nine constructors' championships, seven drivers' titles and 114 Grand Prix victories.
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100 teams in F1 have come and gone since Williams started racing
On display at the event will be the FW06, the first car built by Williams Grand Prix Engineering, alongside the FW11B that carried Nelson Piquet to the title in 1987 and the dominant FW14B that secured Nigel Mansell's championship in 1992.
Also featured will be the FW19, marking 30 years since Jacques Villeneuve's 1997 title win; the FW25 which set an F1 average speed record under Juan Pablo Montoya that stood for 17 years; and the FW38, which still holds the record for the highest speed ever reached by an F1 car, 378kph, set by Valtteri Bottas.
Williams' driver line-up for 2027 has already been confirmed, with Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz partnering for a third successive year.
Albon holds the record for the most F1 starts in Williams history, having surpassed Mansell's previous mark of 95 in Barcelona this year. Sainz, meanwhile, is one of only three drivers, alongside Mansell and Alain Prost, to have raced for Ferrari, McLaren and Williams, the only three teams to reach a 50th anniversary on the grid.
Later in the season, fans will get the chance to vote on a one-off livery for Williams' home race of the British GP at Silverstone.
To mark the anniversary, Williams will also release a series of limited-edition merchandise and collectables celebrating standout moments, personalities and car designs from its history.
These include a W50-branded Monopoly set due on sale before Christmas, and a coffee table book charting 50 years in F1.
Team principal James Vowles said: “It is incredible to think that over 100 F1 teams have come and gone since Frank Williams built this team from next to nothing with a determination to race and win against motorsport’s powerhouses.
"That independence, passion and relentless will to win remain in our DNA as we enter our 50th year.
"Our celebrations will reintroduce the heroes and stories that have forged Williams’ legacy to a new generation of fans, who will carry us forward to reach new heights.”
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