Williams' Doctor Doom Livery Has F1 Fans Seeing Stake Green

Formula 1 fans have a remarkable ability to recognise a familiar livery, even when it appears on a car that has absolutely nothing to do with the team or the sponsor they remember. That was the reaction to Williams Racing’s latest Marvel collaboration, a green and silver Doctor Doom design that unexpectedly brought back memories of one of the most distinctive recent looks on the grid, the fluorescent green and black of Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber.

Williams unveiled its special Doctor Doom show car at New York Comic Con on October 8, 2026, as part of its collaboration with Marvel Studios ahead of the December release of Avengers: Doomsday. The project continues a partnership that began earlier in the year, when Williams drivers Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz appeared in a Marvel comic featuring a showdown with the infamous villain.

The Livery Reveal

The NY Comic Con display took that crossover beyond comic book pages. Alongside special edition race suits and other Marvel themed attractions, Williams presented a show car inspired by Doctor Doom, one of Marvel's most recognisable antagonists, who Robert Downey Jr. will portray starting this December. The result was a dramatic combination of metallic silver, deep green and the imposing visual presence that suits a character who considers himself destined to rule the world.

The design delivered on the villainous aesthetic. The silver suggested Doom's iconic armour, while the rich green recalled his traditional costume. Together, they gave the car a look that stood apart from Williams' familiar blue identity. The reveal attracted enormous attention online, with the social media post collecting more than 140,000 likes. Marvel fans had plenty to discuss, as did F1 supporters who appreciated the crossover between motorsport and superhero culture.

However, a significant part of the conversation took an unexpected turn. Rather than focusing exclusively on Doctor Doom, fans began seeing something else in the colour scheme. Green and silver on a Formula 1 car? Put those colours together, and memories of Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber start flooding.

The Comments: That's the Stake Car!

The funniest part of the reveal was how quickly the conversation moved from Marvel to an entirely different corner of F1 fandom. Doctor Doom might have been the star of the display, but for supporters who watched the 2024 and 2025 seasons, the colour combination looked suspiciously familiar. The reaction was summed up by one particularly straightforward observation: "that's the Stake car".

It is an easy comparison to understand. Anyone who followed Sauber during its two season Stake and Kick partnership will remember the team's black bodywork and striking fluorescent green accents. The colours were distinctive enough to make the cars instantly recognisable, even when they were running towards the back of the field. The design, with the combination of green and metallic silver, brought the old Sauber identity back into the conversation. While some fans saw the Marvel villain, others saw a car that could have rolled straight out of the Stake garage.

Of course, the online reaction should not be mistaken for evidence of an actual sponsorship connection. Williams' Doctor Doom livery is part of its Marvel promotion. There has been no official announcement that Stake is returning to Formula 1, joining Williams or planning any new team partnership. Motorsport fans regularly compare liveries, resurrect old team identities and imagine alternative sponsorship combinations simply because the colours work. In this case, the resemblance provided an entertaining excuse to remember a relatively recent era.

Other comments, notably on Reddit and Instagram, read, “Yooo the Kick Sauber livery is back,” as well as “Welcome back Stake F1 team Kick Sauber.” The fans could not help themselves, and who can blame them? It truly does look like the new iteration of the Stake/Kick partnership that ended at the start of the 2026 calendar season. It is nice to see how much the fans remember their favorite Formula 1 designs, even though they are no longer on the grid.

Why Fans See Stake Green in the Doctor Doom Design

Colour is one of the quickest ways to identify a Formula 1 team. Sponsors come and go, driver line ups change, and aerodynamic concepts evolve, but a distinctive colour scheme can remain lodged in fans' memories long after the original car has been retired. Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber made particularly effective use of that principle in 2024 and 2025. The C44 and C45 featured predominantly black bodywork accented by vivid fluorescent green, creating a high contrast appearance that was difficult to miss on television or at the circuit.

There was no other car anything like it on the grid. The green was the defining feature, and it appeared across the bodywork and sponsor graphics, cutting through the darker base colour and giving the cars a sharp, almost electric appearance. The overall effect was modern, aggressive and unmistakably associated with the Stake and Kick branding.

The Doctor Doom show car approaches the same colour family from a different direction. And since it was done before, how are the fans not supposed to associate it with the original? Instead of relying on black as the dominant background, its green and silver treatment draws attention to the metallic armour concept behind the Marvel character. The silver provides a brighter, more reflective contrast, while the green supplies the recognisable villain inspired accent.

Naturally, there are obvious differences between the two designs. The Stake Sauber cars were built around a commercial team identity, with the placement of sponsors and technical elements forming part of the overall presentation. Williams' Doctor Doom car is a themed show car designed to promote a character and a film. It does not need to follow the same visual priorities as a race livery. Nevertheless, the shared ingredients are enough to trigger a memory. Both designs pair green with a dark or metallic contrasting colour, and both use that contrast to create a bold appearance rather than a subtle one.

There is also a difference between recognising a colour combination and mistaking one team for another. Nobody needs to believe that Williams has secretly become Sauber to enjoy the resemblance. The joke works precisely because the cars are unrelated, yet the visual association is immediate. Doom has been associated with green and metallic armour for decades. Williams did not need to borrow from Stake to create the character's signature look. The fact that fans immediately connected the design to a former sponsor's colours is an amusing consequence of the sport's visual history.

A Recap of the Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber Era

Stake became Sauber's title sponsor for the 2024 and 2025 seasons, alongside streaming platform Kick. The team competed under the name Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber, while Kick Sauber was used as the chassis designation. It was a two season arrangement that gave the Hinwil organisation a new commercial identity during its transition towards becoming Audi's factory Formula 1 team.

The partnership followed Sauber's years competing under the Alfa Romeo name. With that arrangement ending, the team returned to the Sauber identity for the interim period before Audi's planned arrival in 2026. Stake supplied the prominent title sponsorship, while Kick became closely associated with the team's name and presentation. The branding changed for different advertising rules. In markets where gambling advertising was restricted, the team bore the Kick streaming platform name, with Stake branding removed/replaced by Kick branding where required.

On track, the two seasons offered very different experiences. The 2024 campaign was a difficult one, with the C44 struggling for competitiveness and early season pit stop problems adding to the team's challenges. Sauber finished near the bottom of the constructors' standings with a handful of points.

The 2025 season was more encouraging. The C45 began the year with plenty of work to do, but the team improved as the campaign progressed. Nico Hülkenberg and rookie Gabriel Bortoleto combined experience and youthful potential to build momentum before the Audi transition. The defining moment came at the British Grand Prix, where Hülkenberg finished third to claim his first Formula 1 podium in his 239th Grand Prix start. It was a major milestone for the German and an emotional result for a team that had endured a long period without a podium finish.

That result gave the Stake Sauber era a memorable sporting highlight, even if the team never became a regular front runner. Across the two seasons, the partnership covered 48 Grands Prix, one podium, and plenty of now recognisable green and black imagery.

Then came the end of the arrangement as the team prepared for its next chapter. For 2026, Sauber became the Audi Revolut F1 Team. It adopted a new identity built around Audi's manufacturer ambitions and a silver and red visual scheme. The change was more than a sponsor swap. Audi represented the culmination of a long transition, with the manufacturer taking over the operation as a full works team. Stake/Kick belonged to the previous chapter, and the distinctive green disappeared with it.

An Empty Seat: F1 Betting Brands Sans Stake

Formula 1 has never been short of sponsors, and betting related companies remain part of its commercial landscape. Gambling and sports-betting brands have invested in the championship through team partnerships, advertising and other promotional arrangements, making the category a familiar presence in the paddock. As the sport's international audience has expanded, brands have increasingly viewed Formula 1 as a way to reach fans across different markets.

The exact number of teams with gambling linked exposure depends on the season, the definition of exposure, and whether indirect or regional arrangements are counted. A figure of around 70% is usually cited.

The important point is that Stake's departure from Sauber did not mean betting related sponsorship disappeared from Formula 1. The category remains visible, subject to local advertising restrictions and the particular agreements individual teams hold. What has disappeared is a very specific identity. No team on the 2026 grid carries the iconic, fan favorite Stake green and black look.

That absence is especially noticeable because the colours were so distinctive. Plenty of teams have changed title sponsors without leaving a strong visual memory, but Stake Sauber had a combination that fans could recognise immediately. Even people who did not follow the team's results closely could identify the bright green accents. Now the team is Audi, with a different set of ambitions, sponsors and colours. The green has no place in its new visual identity, and that is entirely understandable. A manufacturer entering F1 with its own works programme needs to establish a recognisable identity rather than preserve the look of a temporary transition period. The Doctor Doom reveal has therefore become a small reminder of what the 2026 grid is missing. It is not evidence of a major commercial development, nor does it suggest that Stake is preparing an imminent return. It is simply a striking green and silver show car that has prompted people to remember a team they watched only a season ago. Sometimes, a colour scheme can outlive the arrangement that created it.

Would Stake Look Good on a Williams?

If there is one team that seems especially suited to a hypothetical return of Stake's green branding, Williams is a reasonable candidate for the fan conversation. That is not a prediction, and there is no official announcement linking Stake with Williams. It is simply a fun idea prompted by a livery that has already sent fans looking back at Sauber's fluorescent green era. Williams has shown that it is willing to experiment with special occasion or commercial partnership calls.

The team's established blue identity remains central to its brand, but alternative designs and limited run details have happened. One example came at the 2024 United States Grand Prix, when Williams and cryptocurrency exchange Kraken organised a fan driven rear wing takeover. Supporters voted on digital collectibles from the team's Cosmos Collection, and winning designs appeared on Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto’s cars in Austin. The team has also featured Mercado Libre's bright yellow branding, a striking contrast against its traditional blue.

Speaking of Austin, the United States Grand Prix is next. For the October 25, 2026 race at the Circuit of the Americas, Stake's F1 betting odds list Max Verstappen at 2.20, Kimi Antonelli at 3.25, George Russell at 12.00, and Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc at 13.00 each.

Special appearances and one off designs have given Williams supporters plenty to discuss, while the all black car presented for the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix offered another reminder that the team can look very different when the occasion calls for it.