Williams F1 is one of the world’s leading Formula One teams. It exists purely to race in the top echelon of motor racing, where it’s been winning grands prix for four decades.
The Williams name has been synonymous with top-level motorsport since the 1960s. After running teams on the sport’s nursery slopes, team patron Frank Williams founded Frank Williams (Racing Cars) in 1966 and he entered F1 in 1969 with his friend Piers Courage behind the wheel.
Frank quickly earned a reputation as one of the industry’s more determined individuals and after selling his controlling interest in his original team, he established Williams Grand Prix Engineering – now known simply as ‘Williams’ – with British engineer Patrick Head in 1977. Little did they know that they were about to start one of the most successful and enduring partnerships in Formula One history.
The team used an off-the-shelf March chassis during 1977, with Patrick Head designing the first bespoke Williams chassis, the FW06, for the 1978 campaign. The team immediately went from strength-to-strength. Alan Jones finished 11th in the Drivers’ Championship and his podium at the US Grand Prix proved to be the springboard to a two-car entry in ’79, when Clay Regazzoni lined up alongside Jones.
‘Rega’ claimed the team’s first Grand Prix victory at the ’79 British Grand Prix, in what was to be the start of a highly successful period. Jones claimed the first of Williams’ seven drivers’ titles in 1980, with the team claiming the first of its nine Constructors’ titles the same year.
“There was a mixture of relief and satisfaction at the end of 1980,” says Frank Williams. “It was a phenomenal season for the team because it launched us as a front-running operation.”
A second Constructors’ title followed in ’81 and by the time Keke Rosberg claimed the team’s second drivers’ title in ’82 – during which he won only one race – it was clear that Williams needed a turbo engine to compete with the manufacturer teams. Frank and Patrick looked east and signed a long-term deal with Honda.
The partnership was immediately successful when Rosberg won the Dallas Grand Prix in 1984. Greater reliability the following year resulted in the team finishing third in the Constructors’ Championship, with the team taking overall spoils in ’86 after an immensely difficult season.
In 1986 new signing Nelson Piquet won the season-opening race in Brazil and both he and Nigel Mansell stayed in contention for the drivers’ title until the final race of the season.
Piquet won the Championship in ’87, but the relationship with Honda finished at the same time and the team sought a new long term partner in Renault. The first Renault-powered Williams rolled out of the team’s Didcot factory in 1989, the car winning its sixth race. An updated version of the FW13 won a couple of races in 1990, at the end of which the team lured Nigel Mansell out of retirement for the ’91 season.
Mansell finished second in the Championship on his return to Williams, before going one better in ’92. He won the opening five races of the year en route to his only world title and the team’s first Constructors’ success for five years. More wins and titles followed in ’93, with Alain Prost and Damon Hill taking over driving duties. By the time Renault withdrew from F1 at the end of ’97, Williams had knocked up more than 100 wins in just 20 seasons of F1 competition, with three further Constructors’ Championships, and Drivers’ titles for Damon Hill (1996) and Jacques Villeneuve (1997).
Williams struck up a new partnership with BMW in 2000, but it was to prove less fruitful than the previous manufacturer collaborations with Honda and Renault. During six seasons together Williams and BMW took 17 poles and 10 wins, with 2003 being the height of its success, when Juan Pablo Montoya finished third in the drivers’ standings and the team came second in the Constructors’ Championship.
Following stints with Cosworth, Toyota and Renault, with whom the team scored its most recent victory in 2012, Williams joined forces with Mercedes Benz HPP in 2014 and became Williams Martini Racing. The switch to Mercedes engines, and the pairing of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas, sparked a change in performance for the team as they finished third in the Constructors’ Championship in both 2014 and 2015, with 13 podiums over the course of both seasons.
A message from Claire
“40 years ago my Father and Patrick Head created what would become one of the most iconic teams in the history of Formula One – Williams.
“We are immensely proud of what we have achieved during our long and illustrious history. We have experienced the most euphoric highs – reaching the pinnacle of the sport nine times as a constructor and seven times with Alan Jones, Keke Rosberg, Nelson Piquet, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve. We have also experienced the lows; the heartache of championships and victories that have agonisingly slipped away. But we’re proud of it all.”
“So much has changed in Formula One in the last 40 years but one thing remains the same, our passion. We want to celebrate our passion, our achievements and our history with everyone who has made this journey possible – the fans, our partners, the media and the many friends we have made in the last 40 years. Racing, it’s in our blood, it’s our DNA and has been since 1977, which will never change.”
“We are racing. We are Williams.”
Drivers’ Champions
1980 Alan Jones
1982 Keke Rosberg
1987 Nelson Piquet
1992 Nigel Mansell
1993 Alain Prost
1996 Damon Hill
1997 Jacques Villeneuve
Constructors’ Championships
1980 FW07/FW07B (Alan Jones, Clay Regazzoni)
1981 FW07C (Alan Jones, Carlos Reutemann)
1986 FW11 (Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet)
1987 FW11B (Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet, Riccardo Patrese)
1992 FW14B (Nigel Mansell, Riccardo Patrese)
1993 FW15C (Damon Hill, Alain Prost)
1994 FW16/FW16B (Damon Hill, Ayrton Senna, David Coulthard, Nigel Mansell)
1996 FW18 (Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve)
1997 FW19 (Jacques Villeneuve, Heinz-Harald Frentzen)
