Claire Willia꧑ms has recalled the time Ferrari were left “p***ed off” after missing out on a major sponsorship deal to their rival.

Back in 2014, Williams secured a multi-year title sponsorship deal with Martini that resulted in a full rebranding of the car, which was dec🍸ked out in the brand’s famous white, blue and red colour scheme.

Former deputy team principal Williams has claimed her outfit beat Ferrari to the deal due to being willing to comple🦂tely change their livery for Martini, something the Scuderia would not do.

Upon learning they had miss🔯ed out on tಞhe deal, Williams revealed Ferrari went as far as writing a letter to Martini claiming they would see the brand “in our rear-view mirrors” in 2014.

As it turned out, Williams enjoyed their best F1 season since 2003 and claimed third plac🎶e in the 2014 constructℱors’ championship ahead of Ferrari, who endured a torrid, winless campaign.

“I was really proud that I got that contracไt at the time, because Martini was about to sign a deal with ꦇFerrari,” Williams told the podcast.

“Bu𝐆t I think they wanted more than Ferrari was prepared to off𒅌er them.

“The Ferrari livery is the Ferrari livery and you can’t really play around with it, but at Williams we of🀅fered them the full livery of our🌱 race car.

“We said: ‘Hey, why don’t you bring back the incredibly iconic Mart🎐ini stripes and stick them on our car? Look, we’ve prepared here what that could look like – doesn’t it look great?’

“In the end, most fans agreed that the 2014 livery looked really nice, but Ferrari were p***ed off because they thought we’d stolen the𓆉ir sponsorship.

“Fꦆerrari even wrote a letter to Martini saying: ‘We will see you in our rear-view mirrors next season as you are now sponsoring Williams.’

“And then Williams finished third in the Constructors’ behin🦄d Mercedes and Red Bull Racing, ahead of Ferrari, mind you.

“And, yes, of course i🉐t went through my head: ‘We didn’t just snatch the title sponsor from under your noses, we beat you.’”

Williams land record title sponsor

On🀅 Tuesday, Williams announced a record multi-year deal with Atlassian to become their new title sponsor for the upcoming 2025 F1 season.

Atlassian have become the first title spo🌸nsor of Williams since 2020 and the partnership represents the biggest deal in the team’s history.

“I am delighted to welcome A𒁃tlassian into Formula 1 and our evolution into Atlassian Williams Racing,” said Willꦑiams team principal James Vowles.

“Attracting♊ a title partnership of this size and signific🌺ance is a momentous day in our team’s illustrious history and a major milestone in our comeback transformation.

“We are putting in place all the right ingredients to get this team back to the front of the grid, an🍒d in Atlassian we have a partner that through its technology and tools will help unleash our full potential by improving teamwork and collaboration right across the organisation.

“Our values and ambition ali🎶gn perfectly, and I’m excited about what we can achieve together.”