Williams Racing F1 Team

Behind Ferrari and McLaren, Williams are the third oldest team in Formula One, with a long and successful history in the sport. Founded by the late Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head, the team made its F1 debut in 1977, winning their first race in 1979 with Clay Regazzoni at the wheel. Alongside McLaren, Williams were a dominant force in F1 in the 1980s and 1990s, taking all nine of their Constructor’s titles in these two decades, as well as seven Driver’s titles. During their history, Williams have fielded many of F1’s household names – Alan Jones, Keke Rosberg, Nelson Piquet, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve, Martin Brundle, Ayrton Senna, David Coulthard, Ralf Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya and Jenson Button all racing for the team. 1980 was the team’s first title success with Jones, followed by Rosberg’s success in the tragedy hit 1982 season. Williams took back-to-back Constructor’s titles in 1986/87, the pairing of Mansell and Piquet proving a fruitful one for the team. Mansell missed the title narrowly in 1986, with Piquet taking the last of his three titles in 1987. Trading titles continued with McLaren in the late 1980s, with Williams bouncing back in 1992/93 with Mansell taking his long-awaited first Driver’s title and Prost coming out of retirement to dominate the 1993 season. 1994 promised much for Williams, having finally signed Senna after years of wooing the Brazilian champion. After a difficult opening two races where Senna took pole but retired – tragedy it the team at Imola of 1994, Senna losing his life at the San Marino Grand Prix. Naturally shaken by these events, Williams led courageously by Damon Hill took the Driver’s Championship to the final race, losing out to Michael Schumacher. Despite these events, Williams still managed their third consecutive Constructor’s title, with Coulthard and Mansell sharing the second Williams seat. Hill won his first championship in 1996, with Villeneuve making it back-to-back Driver’s and Constructor’s titles for the team in 1997 – Williams last championship success to date. Moving away from the successful Renault engine partnership meant a drop in performance before Williams joined forces with BMW from 2000-05. At the hands of Montoya and Ralf Schumacher, Williams returned to their winning ways from 2001-04, Montoya being deep in the title fight in 2003 until late in the season. The 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix victory with Montoya was the team’s last win for eight years, as the team slowly fell away from the front of the field. With titles out of the question, Williams still managed some highlights – Nico Hulkenberg taking a memorable pole position in Brazil in his rookie year of 2010 as well as a handful of podiums for Mark Webber and Nick Heidfeld. Williams last win to date was in 2012 at the hands of Pastor Maldonado, the Venezuelan taking a popular and surprise victory at the Spanish Grand Prix. Moving to Mercedes engines saw a brief upswing in success for the team at the start of the hybrid era in 2014, with Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas taking eight podiums and a pole position on their way to 3rd in the Constructor’s Championship. Another third place in the Constructor’s followed in 2015, albeit further behind the Mercedes and Ferrari teams. Williams took further podiums in 2016/17 but have since been on a gradual decline, before failing to trouble the scorers in 2020 and finishing last in the Championship – an unwelcome feat achieved the first time in the team’s long and celebrated history. George Russell partnered with a more competitive Williams in 2021 saw the team return to the points and the podium, an incredible front row start in Belgium converted to a rain-shortened 2nd place in the race – a result that boosted the team to 8th in the Constructor’s. Russell’s move to Mercedes for 2022 saw former Red Bull driver Alex Albon take the reigns alongside Nicholas Latifi, the team finishing in last place but at Albon’s hands in particular, a points threat at times. Albon continues with the team for 2023 alongside American rookie Logan Sargeant.