Pride, history, and beating the odds. Williams is one of the most illustrious names in Grand Prix racing.
It’s been a team at the zenith of its powers in the 1980s and 1990s but reached rock bottom in the late 2010s before being rescued by Dorilton Capital.
Williams’s future looks bright. Former Mercedes strategy director James Vowles is now at the helm, and Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz are driving.
But what makes Williams so iconic?
A man with a vision
Photo: ‘4u1e’/Wikimedia Commons
Following a brief stint as a racing driver, Williams became a team owner in 1969, entering a single Brabham for talented Britain Piers Courage, heir to the Courage brewing empire.
Despite coming from wealthy stock, Courage was no slouch, finishing second at Monaco and Wakins Glen, securing eighth in the drivers’ standings in an excellent debut season for Williams.
For 1970, Williams switched to a De Tomaso chassis, with Courage retained as the sole driver. However, the team was up against it, as the new car was unreliable and overweight, and as a result, the team didn’t score a point in the first four races.
But at the Dutch GP, tragedy struck as Courage suffered a technical failure on Lap 22, sending him straight into a barrier and flipping the car before it burst into flames. He later succumbed to his injuries at the age of 28.
Williams never really replaced Courage. Although it attracted star drivers such as Jacky Ickx and Jacques Laffite, the latter of whom finished second in the 1975 Austrian GP, Williams was firmly a tail-ender.
In 1976, Canadian businessman Walter Wolf, who had brought 60% of the team, removed Williams from his position as team manager before the Brit duly left the team for 1977.
Rebirth and the win finally arrives
Photo: Russell Whitworth/Wikimedia Commons
Starting from scratch, Williams founded Williams Grand Prix Engineering in 1977 and recruited Patrick Head to be the team’s technical director.
After a year of running a customer March, Williams had a car of their own for 1978, with the FW06, designed by Head and raced by gritty Australian Alan Jones, who had been a race winner with Shadow in 1977.
The FW06 showed promise in its first year, with Jones finishing second in the United States GP at Watkins Glen, but it wasn’t until the arrival of the FW07 in 1979 that Williams took off.
Expanding to two cars, with former Ferrari stalwart Clay Regazzoni joining Jones, the FW07, inspired by the all-conquering Lotus 79, didn’t debut until April’s Spanish GP and was initially unreliable.
However, once those issues were ironed out, the FW07 was the car to beat, with Regazzoni having the honour of winning Williams’ first win at the British GP at Silverstone. The floodgates opened as Jones took three consecutive victories, including a famous 1-2 in Germany, helping the team secure second in the constructors championship.
Jones would dominate the 1980 season, winning five races and securing his maiden world title, while Williams also won their first constructors title.
After narrowly missing out on the title in 1981 with Carlos Reutemann, 1982 saw the introduction of the FW08. Keke Rosberg became the lead driver after the Argentinian’s sudden retirement midway through the season.
Despite winning only once in 1982, Rosberg’s consistency helped him become world champion, although Williams only finished fourth in the constructors.
Rosberg stayed with the team until 1985 and quickly established a reputation as a lightning-quick driver despite his tendency to smoke cigarettes before going out on track.
In 1983, Williams teamed up with Honda for F1’s turbo era, and in 1985, the team recruited Britain’s Nigel Mansell after he departed Lotus acrimoniously at the end of 1984.
Mansell, who always drove with his heart on his sleeve, quickly became a fan favourite and won his first Grand Prix at Brands Hatch.
At the top of the mountain
Photo: Morio/Wikimedia Commons
Williams suffered a hammer blow during the winter of 1986, as Frank Williams was left paralysed from the neck down following a road accident when coming back from a test at Paul Ricard.
With Nelson Piquet replacing Rosberg in their lineup, Williams carried on without their founder as he recovered from his injuries. The Frank Dernie-designed FW11 was Head and shoulders above the competition.
Williams returned to the paddock to rapturous applause at the British GP while his wife Virgina lifted the winner’s trophy after Mansell led home Piquet to a 1-2. He watched from afar as Williams won the constructors championship, but the squabbling between Piquet and Mansell allowed McLaren’s Alain Prost to claim his second world title.
The FW11 was updated for 1987, and once again, Piquet and Mansell contested the title. The Brazilian emerged victorious after Mansell suffered serious injuries in a practice crash at the Japanese GP.
With Honda moving to McLaren in 1988, Williams struggled with Judd engines before teaming up with Renault in 1989. The French manufacturer’s engine was impressive right out of the gate. New signing Belgium Thierry Boutsen took two wins in Canada and Australia, helping Williams finish second in the constructors’ championship.
Two more wins followed in 1990 before Mansell returned in 1991 after a two-year stint at Ferrari. Williams also secured the services of promising designer Adrian Newey, whose FW14 chassis revolutionised F1 by featuring traction control, a six-speed sequential gearbox, and active suspension.
After narrowly missing out on the title to Ayrton Senna, 1992 was a cakewalk for Williams, and Mansell easily won both the drivers’ and constructors championships. Unfortunately, the partnership ended when Brit couldn’t agree on terms with Williams for 1993, paving the way for Prost to join the team alongside Williams’ test driver Damon Hill.
Like Mansell, Prost and Williams strolled to the title before the Frenchman announced his retirement at the end of 1993 to be replaced by Senna. Meanwhile, Hill, who had spent 1992 combining his test role with a brief stint as a Brabham race driver, took three wins in his first full season.
Senna and Williams were hot favourites to win the title, but with traction control and active suspension banned for 1994, the team came into the season-opening Brazilian GP on the backfoot. Adding to their problems was the challenge of Benetton’s Michael Schumacher, who pushed Senna at Interlagos before he spun out on Lap 55, gifting the German the win.
Schumacher won again at the Pacific GP in Aida, Japan, while Mika Hakkinen punted Senna into retirement. Williams had some ground to make up as the F1 circus returned to Europe for the San Marino GP at Imola.
Senna qualified on pole for the third consecutive race. But, on Lap 7, as he led Schumacher into the fast left-hand sweeper Tamburello, the Brazilian veered off to the right into an unprotected wall and crashed heavily. The Brazilian would later succumb to his injuries in hospital, robbing the sport of its shining star.
It was left to Hill to lead the grieving team, just like his father, Graham Hill, had done with Lotus in 1968 following the death of Jim Clark at a Formula 2 race in Hockenheim. Hill could fight Schumacher for the title with a B-spec model of the FW16. The Brit won six times, ensuring the championship would be decided in Australia. The battle would end in controversy as the pair would collide, securing Schumacher the title.
Schumacher won the title again in 1995, as Hill endured a torrid season littered with mistakes. But in 1996, everything came good, and he finally became world champion after a season-long battle with rookie teammate Jacques Villeneuve.
Amazingly, Hill was dropped for 1997 in place of German Heinz Harald Frentzen, with Villeneuve now the team leader as he fought against Schumacher, now with Ferrari, for the championship.
A collision at the season finale at Jerez wrapped up Villeneuve’s first world championship and Williams’ fifth constructors title in six years. However, the good times came to an abrupt end as Renault withdrew from F1 at the end of 1997.
The BMW years
Photo: Morio/Wikimedia Commons
Following two seasons of being hamstrung by customer Mecharome engines, Williams secured BMW power for 2000 and finished third in the constructors championship.
In 2001, Colombian CART star Juan Pablo Montoya teamed up with Ralf Schumacher, and the Colombian set F1 alight, taking his maiden win at Monza, while his teammate won BMW-Williams’ first race at Imola.
Only one win followed in 2002, as Schumacher and Ferrari dominated the season. By 2003, Williams and Montoya were firmly in the fight until the United States GP, eventually finishing third behind Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen.
Williams went for the bold ‘Walrus’ front wing design for 2004, but the concept was flawed, and Montoya only won one race before departing for McLaren. Ralf Schumacher’s season was heavily affected by injuries sustained after a crash at Indianapolis, and for 2005, he switched to Toyota.
BMW and Williams’ relationship deteriorated throughout 2005, and after the team’s first winless season since 2000, they parted company. The German manufacturer took over Sauber in 2006.
The midfield years as Claire Williams takes over
Photo: Marc Evans/Wikimedia Commons
Now a customer team with Cosworth, Williams endured their worst season for decades in 2006, finishing eighth in the constructors’ championship before vaulting back to fourth in 2007 with Alex Wurz taking a podium in Canada.
Nico Rosberg, son of Keke, was one of the team’s lone bright spots during this wilderness period. He finished third at the 2008 Australian GP and helped Williams finish fifth in 2009 before he left for Mercedes.
Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg showcased flashes of brilliance during their one season together in 2010. The German pulled off a stunning pole lap in Brazil but was dropped at the end of the year for Venezuelan pay driver Pastor Maldonado.
Maldonado, known for his erratic driving, did, however, manage to end Williams’ eight-year win drought with a commanding victory at the 2012 Spanish GP, although the team wasn’t able to kick on from the Venezuelan’s stunning performance.
Valtteri Bottas was promoted to a race seat in 2013 and impressed at points in his rookie campaign despite being lumbered with uncompetitive machinery. The Finn achieved a superb third place on the grid for the Canadian GP before plummeting to 14th in the race. Felipe Massa joined the Finn from Ferrari for the start of the turbo hybrid era, with Martini coming on board as a title sponsor. Sir Frank’s daughter Claire Williams became de facto team boss in 2013 and took over the day-to-day running from her father.
By acquiring Mercedes engines for 2014, Williams found themselves amongst the front runners for the first part of the turbo hybrid era, finishing third in the constructors in 2014-15 and fifth in 2016.
The loss of Bottas to Mercedes after Rosberg’s sudden retirement in 2016 hit Williams hard, and results began to slide, going from fifth in 2017 to tenth and last in 2018.
Williams reached rock bottom in 2019, as the FW42 turned up to pre-season testing late and was the slowest car on the grid. Even with the talent of George Russell and Robert Kubica, Williams could only pick a single point through the pole with tenth in Germany.
A new dawn breaks
Photo: @WilliamsRacing/X
By 2020, Claire Williams realised the game was up, and she decided to sell the team to American private investment company Dorilton Capital.
Williams left her position inside the team after the Italian GP to be replaced by Simon Roberts. Once again, results were mediocre, with Russell and new teammate Nicholas Latifi unable to score a point during the entire season.
Roberts left his position after the 2021 Azerbaijan GP, with former Volkswagen director of motorsport Jost Capito taking over.
Under Capito, Williams enjoyed a brief renaissance as Latifi and Russell bagged points in Hungary with a 7-8. In Spa, Russell shined in wet qualifying, securing second on the grid behind eventual world champion Max Verstappen.
Frank Williams passed away in December 2021, and the F1 community paid tribute to the legendary team boss before the start of the Saudi Arabian GP, with all teams applying his logos to their cars.
Russell left for Mercedes in 2022, and although Alex Albon did manage to score points, the team struggled for results, with Capito leaving at the end of the year.
The Vowles revolution started in 2023 with promise. In his second year as team leader, Albon produced some heroic performances, achieving two seventh-place finishes at Canada and Monza.
These results helped Williams finish seventh in the constructors’ championship. Albon confirmed his trust in Vowles’ vision by signing a multi-year deal with the team when F1 enters its next regulation cycle.
Williams then secured Sainz on a multi-year deal, meaning the team has two top-quality drivers in its lineup as it prepares to enter its sixth decade of racing.