Williams Grand Prix Engineering

This article is about the Formula One team, for other uses of "Williams" see Williams.

Not to be confused with Frank Williams Racing Cars, formed by Frank Williams 1967.

WilliamsF1, formerly known as Williams Grand Prix Engineering, is a Formula 1 (F1) motor racing team who have won nine Constructor's titles, the first was in 1980 and their latest in 1997. The team was formed and run by Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head. The team's first race was at the 1978 Argentine Grand Prix. Switzerland's Clay Regazzoni won Williams' first race at the 1979 British Grand Prix. In the 1997 Hungarian Grand Prix, Canadian Jacques Villeneuve won the team's 100th race, making Williams one of the "Big Three" teams in Formula One, alongside Ferrari and fellow British team McLaren.

"Williams Grand Prix Engineering" was founded in 1977 after two earlier and, compared to WilliamsF1's achievements, unsuccessful F1 operations, Frank Williams Racing Cars and Walter Wolf Racing.

Many famous racing drivers have driven for Williams, including Finland's Keke Rosberg; Britain's Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill; France's Alain Prost and Brazil's Ayrton Senna. After Senna died in a Williams car, following a fatal crash at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, Frank Williams, Patrick Head and designer Adrian Newey, were all accused of manslaughter. The trial finally closed in 2005, when Williams, Head and Newey were cleared of any wrongdoing.

As well as drivers, Williams have been serviced by many notable engine manufacturers, the Renault engine being the engine that brought the most success to the team: Williams won five of their nine contructor's titles with the Renault engine.

Racing history - Formula One

Ford (1976-1983)

Related Article: Ford Motor Company

File:Jones Imola 1986.jpg

In 1980, Australian Alan Jones became the first Williams driver to win the Driver's championship. Williams won their first constructor's title the same year

Frank Williams started the current Williams team in 1977 after his previous outfit, Frank Williams Racing Cars, failed to achieve the success he desired. Despite the promise of a new owner, Canadian millionaire Walter Wolf, the team's 1976 cars were seriously un-competitive. The situation reached the point where Frank left the rechristened Walter Wolf Racing and moved to the now famous site at Didcot to rebuild his team as "Williams Grand Prix Engineering". Frank recruited young engineer Patrick Head to work for the team, which was the beginning of the now famous "Williams-Head" partnership.

1977

Williams entered a customer March 761 for the 1977 season. Lone driver Patrick Neve appeared at 11 races that year, starting with the Spanish Grand Prix. The new team failed to score any points and achieved a best finish of 7th at the Italian Grand Prix.

1978

For the 1978 season, Patrick Head designed his first Williams - the FW06. Williams signed Australian Alan Jones, who had won the Austrian Grand Prix the previous season. Jones' first race for the team was the Argentine Grand Prix where he qualified the lone Williams in 14th position, but retired after 36 laps due to a fuel system failure. The team scored its first championship points two rounds later at the South African Grand Prix when Jones finished fourth. Williams managed their first podium position at the US Grand Prix, where the Australian came second, about 20 seconds behind the Ferrari of future Williams driver Carlos Reutemann. Williams ended the season in tenth place in the constructor's championship, with a respectable 16 points, while Alan Jones finished 12th in the driver's championship.

1979

Head designed the FW07 for the 1979 season. This was the team's first ground effect car, a technology first introduced by Colin Chapman and Team Lotus. With Jones and Swiss driver Clay Regazzoni, Williams now had a very competitive team. They had to wait until the seventh round of the championship, the Monaco Grand Prix for a points scoring position. Regazzoni came close to taking the team's first win but finished second, less than a second behind race winner Jody Scheckter. The next round at Dijion is remembered for the final lap battle between René Arnoux and Gilles Villeneuve, but also saw both cars finish in the points for the first time: Jones was fourth with Regazzoni sixth. The team's first win came at the 1979 British Grand Prix - their home Grand Prix - when Regazzoni finished almost 25 seconds ahead of anyone else. Things got even better when Williams cars finished first and second at the next round in Hockenheim, Alan Jones two seconds ahead of Regazzoni. Jones then made it three wins in a row at the Österreichring, finishing half a minute ahead of Gille Villeneuve's Ferrari. Three wins in a row became four wins two weeks later at Zandvoort, Alan Jones winning again by a comfortable margin over Jody Scheckter's Ferrari. Scheckter ended the Williams winning streak when he won Ferrari's home Italian Grand Prix, Regazzoni finishing third behind both Ferraris. Alan Jones managed another win at the penultimate race at Montreal to cap off a great season.

Williams had greatly improved their contructor's championship position, finishing eight places higher than the previous year and scoring 59 more points. Alan Jones was the nearest driver to the Ferrari duo of Villeneuve and 1979 champion Jody Scheckter, the Australian scored 43 points, 17 behind the South African, while Jones' team mate, Regazzoni, was two places behind him with 32 points.

1980

In 1980 Alan Jones partnered the Argentine Carlos Reutemann. The team started well in the championship, with Jones winning the first round of the season in Argentina. Jones won four more races: Paul Ricard, Brands Hatch, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and the final round at Watkins Glen. Jones became the first of seven Williams drivers to win the driver's championship, 17 points ahead of Nelson Piquet's Brabham. Williams also won its first constructor's championship, scoring 120 points, almost double the points of second placed Ligier.

1981

The duo won four races for the Williams team in the 1981 season. Alan Jones won at the first round at Long Beach and the final round at Las Vegas, while Carlos Reutemann won at the second round at Jacarepagua and the fifth round at Zolder. Williams won the constructor's title for the second year running, scoring 95 points, 34 points more than second placed Brabham.

1982

Alan Jones retired from Formula One, only to come back a year later for a single season with the Arrows team. The Australian was replaced by Finnish driver, Keke Rosberg, who had not scored a single championship point the previous year. He won the Drivers title that year; winning only one race, which was in Switzerland. Rosberg's teammate, Reutemann, finished in 15th place having quit Formula One afer just two races of the new season. His seat was filled by Mario Andretti for the US Grand Prix West before Derek Daly took over for the rest of the year. The Williams team finished fourth in the constructor's championship that year, 16 points behind champions Ferrari.

By the end of the season, Frank Williams realised that to compete at the top levels of Formula One he would need the support of a major manufacturer, such as Renault or BMW who could supply his team with a turbo engine.

Honda (1983-1988)

Related Article: Honda

1983

Frank Williams looked towards Honda, which was developing its own turbo-charged V6 engine with the Spirit team. The deal between Honda and Williams was finally settled early in 1983 and the team used the engines for the 1984 season. For the rest of the 1983 season, Williams used the Ford engine. The team finished fourth in the constructors championship, scoring 36 points, including a win for Keke Rosberg at the 1983 Monaco Grand Prix.

1984

For the 1984 season Head designed the ungainly FW09. Keke Rosberg was able to win the United States Grand Prix at Dallas and managed to get second at the opening race in Brazil. Rosberg's team mate, Jacques Laffite, came 14th in the driver's championship with five points. The team finished sixth with 25.5 points, with Rosberg eighth in the driver's championship.

1985

Nigel Mansell's Williams FW10. This car was used during the 1985 season.

In 1985, Head designed the FW10, the team's chassis to employ the carbon-fibre composite technology pioneered by the McLaren team. British driver Nigel Mansell joined the team to partner Rosberg. The team scored four wins with Rosberg, winning in Detroit and Adelaide, while Mansell won the European Grand Prix and the South African Grand Prix. Williams finished third in the contructors championship, scoring 71 points.

1986

In March 1986, Frank Williams faced the most serious challenge of his life. While returning to airport at Nice, he was involved in a car accident which left him paralysed. Williams did not return to the pit lane for almost a year. Despite the lack of his presence in the team, the Williams team won nine Grands Prix and the Constructors Championship. Despite this, Honda were getting frustrated by the fact that neither Williams driver, Mansell or Piquet, had won the drivers championship.

1987

The 1987 season brought even more success. Nelson Piquet won the 1987 Drivers Championship, scoring 76 points and winning threee races, while the Brazilian's teammate, Mansell, was 15 points behind him in second place with six victories during the season. The Williams team finished as constructors champions for the second year running, scoring 137 points, 61 points ahead of their nearest rivals McLaren. Despite this success Honda ended their partnership with Williams at the end of the year in favour of McLaren and Lotus.

1988

Unable to make a deal with another major engine manufacturer, Williams used Judd engines for the 1988 season. Piquet left Williams to join Lotus, who had also secured Honda engines for the 1988 season. Williams brought in Italian Riccardo Patrese to replace him. The team did not win a single race that season and finished seventh in the constructors championship, scoring 20 points.

Renault (1989-1997)

Related Article: Renault; Renault F1

The team secured an engine supply from Renault in 1989. Renault engines subsequently powered Williams drivers to another four Drivers' Championships and five Constructors' Championships up until Renault's departure from Formula One at the end of 1997. The combination of Renault's powerful engine and Adrian Newey's design expertise led to a particularly dominant period in the mid 1990s. Mansell had a record breaking 1992 season winning the title in record time and leading many races from pole to finish. Some maintain that the Williams FW14B and FW15C were "the most technologically advanced cars that will ever race in Formula One".

1989

The Renault era started in 1989, with Italian Riccardo Patrese and Belgian Thierry Boutsen at the helm of the two Williams cars. The engine's first grand prix in Brazil was one that the team would like to forget, with Boutsen retiring due to an engine failure and Patrese retired due to an alternator failure. The Williams renault team managed to get back on track with Boutsen coming fourth in the next race at Imola, earning the team three points in their championship campaign. Two races later at the Mexican Grand Prix, the team managed to achieve their first podium with the renault engine, thanks to Patrese, who came second, 15 seconds behind the race winner Ayrton Senna. The next race saw Patrese come second again, however the Italian did start from 14th on the grid, it then became better reading for Frank Williams as the other Williams driven by Boutsen came 6th. At the Sixth round in Canada, Williams not only score their first win with the Renault engine, but also their first 1-2, Thierry Boutsen came first followed by Patrese, 15 points for Williams' championship campaign. Williams came second in the constructors championship, scoring 77 points in total; 64 points behind winners Mclaren. Patrese finished 3rd in the driver's championship with 40 points, 41 points behind the 1989 world champion, Alain Prost.

1990

In 1990, Williams kept Patrese and Boutsen as the teams' drivers. The team started better than the previous year, as Boutsen managed to finished in 3rd place and scoring four points for the team in Brazil. Despite winning the San Marino Grand Prix, Patrese struggled to finish the Williams in a decent position, however the Italian's team mate, Thierry Boutsen, managed to regularly finish in the points, he also managed to win the Hungarian Grand Prix, starting from pole position. Compared to their previous season, this year wasn't really a step forward for the team as they finished 2 places lower than last season, scoring 57 points, 30 points less than the previous season. Out of the two Williams drivers, it was Boutsen who finished highest in the drivers championship, coming sixth; scoring 34 points, 11 points more than his team mate Riccardo Patrese, who finished one place below him.

1991

Boutsen left Williams and joined Ligier at the start of 1991. His replacement was Britain's Nigel Mansell, Williams also recruited future 1996 world champion, Damon Hill, as one of their new test drivers. Despite the new signing, Both Williams drivers failed to finish in the first Grand Prix of the season at Phoenix, both drivers retired due to a gearbox problem. Patrese got back on track for the team in the next Grand Prix at Interlagos, coming second behind McLaren's Ayrton Senna. The 1991 San Marino Grand Prix was again the scene of both cars retiring, Mansell retired due to a collision, while Patrese retired due to electrical failure after completing 17 laps. The Grand Prix at Monaco saw Mansell finially finish in a points scoring position, coming second, 18 seconds behind the race winner Ayrton Senna. Two Grand Prix later in Mexico, Williams got their second one-two with the Renault engine, Patrese finishing ahead of Mansell to score 16 points for the Williams team. Williams then made in two consecutive victories, with Mansell winning the French Grand Prix, five seconds ahead of Alain Prost's Ferrari. Mansell then won again at the British Grand Prix, it had been four years since the last occasion when a Brit won the grand prix, the previous Brit to win it was Mansell back in 1987. Three consecutive victories became four, as Mansell won again in 1991, Patrese was about 10 seconds behind him in second place. Senna ended Williams run of victories by winning in Hungary, finishing five seconds ahead of Nigel Mansell. Mansell would later win the Italian Grand Prix and the Spanish Grand Prix, while Patrese won the Portuguese Grand Prix. Williams finished second in the constructors championship, scoring 125 points in total, 14 points behind McLaren. While Mansell finished second in the drivers championship, scoring 72 points, 24 points behind Senna.

1992

Williams would take a step up for the 1992 season, keeping their 1991 driver line up of Patrese and Mansell. Mansell dominated the first round in South Africa, qualifying in pole and winning the race by 24 seconds to his team mate Patrese. Williams would win the next four rounds at: Mexico City; Interlagos; Cataluya and Imola, with Nigel Mansell winning them all; Patrese coming second in all but one race, which was the Spanish Grand Prix, as the Italian span off and retired. Senna won the next race in Monaco, ahead of both Williams which finished in the remaining podium positions. The next race in Canada would be one of two races in which both Williams cars retired, Mansell spun off while Patrese had a gearbox failure, the second grand prix in which both Williams retired was the final round in Adelaide. Mansell went on to record four more Grand Prix wins, including one at the British Grand Prix. Williams won the constructors championship that year, with 164 points, 65 points more than second place McLaren. While Mansell became World Champion scoring 108 points, with Patrese finishing second with 56 points.

1993

Nigel Mansell left the Williams team in 1993 for IndyCar racing, the team hired triple champion Alain Prost, and promoted test driver Damon Hill to replace Riccardo Patrese, who left to join Michael Schumacher at Benetton. The Williams was a dominant car, with active suspension and traction control systems beyond anything available to the other teams. Prost won on his debut for the team in South Africa and like Mansell, dominated the weekend, taking pole position and finishing one minute ahead Senna, who finished second. The next Grand Prix in Brazil saw Prost retire on the first lap, while Hill would go on to record his first career podium, as he finished second, 16 seconds behind Senna. Williams would see Prost win three of the next four Grand Prix, Senna winning the other race. Prost and Hill later scored a 1-2 in France, which would be the only 1-2 of the season for Williams. The Frenchman won the next two Grand Prix at Silverstone and Hockenheim. Prost's team mate, Hill, hadn't really had a good first full season Formula One, until he won the next three Grand Prix at Hungary; Belgium and Italy. After Italy, Williams wouldn't win a Grand Prix for the rest of the season, with Senna winning in Japan and Australia, while a young Michael Schumacher won the following race in Portugal. Williams retained their constructor's title, 84 points ahead of second placed, McLaren. Prost won the driver's championship in his final year of Formula One, 26 points ahead second place Ayrton Senna.

1994

File:Williams Renault FW16 Hill.jpg

The Williams FW16 in which Ayrton Senna's fatal crash occurred and the car Damon Hill came close to winning the 1994season in, his third year in Formula One

Williams secured the signing of Senna in 1994. During pre-season, bookies predicted that Senna would coast to the title. The first four rounds were won by Michael Schumacher in the Benetton-Ford, one of them being in Imola, where Williams' new signing, Ayrton Senna, died in an accident at the first corner after completing five laps, this day was described by many as "F1's darkest day". The race was re-started nearly an hour later. The repercussions of this fatal accident were severe for the team itself, as the Italian government tried to prosecute the team and Frank Williams through the Italian courts, an episode which wasn't over until 2005. At the next race in Monaco, Damon Hill was the only Williams on the grid, this was done as a mark of respect to Senna, the Brit retired on the first lap. The next race in Spain, Williams brought in test driver, David Coulthard, as Hill's new teammate. In the race itself, Hill won by almost half a minute over Schumacher's Benetton, while Coulthard would retire due to an electrical problem. In Canada, both Williams cars finished in the points for the first time that season, with Hill finishing second and Coulthard finishing fifth. Two rounds later, Damon Hill did something his father, Graham, never did, which was winning the British Grand Prix. Later during the season, Hill had a chance to get back at Schumacher in the championship, after the German was disqualified from first at Spa after the Stewards found floorboard irregularities on his Benetton. He banned for the next two races, in which Hill capitalised on with wins in Italy and a Williams 1-2 in Portugal. Schumacher would come back after his suspension for the European Grand Prix, which he won by about 25 seconds. By the penultimate round in Japan, Hill was 5 points behind Schumacher and if he didn't finish ahead of the German, it would be very unlikely that he'd take the title in the final round in Adelaide, however Hill did win, by three seconds to Schumacher who finished second and so to the final round in Adelaide, where Schumacher lead Hill by one point. Nigel Mansell would take pole for Williams, however he had a poor start which gave way for Hill and Schumacher to fight it out for the lead and the 1994 title. Mid way through the race, Schumacher's tactics for low aerodynamics, would cost him as he clipped the wall coming into the fifth corner and went wide. Hill, now right behind the Benetton, took the inside line for the following corner, the two collided and Schumacher was out of the race instantly, while Hill went into the pits in an attempt to try and get back into the race, as now he only needed to finish fifth to win the title. This wasn't to be the case as Williams couldn't repair the damage and Hill retired. To this day, many F1 fans in the UK believe that Schumacher did cause the accident intentially as the incident was one of the incidents shortlisted for the BBC's "Most Unsporting Moment Award", Diego Maradona's "Hand of God" goal for Argentina won the award. Williams would end the season as contructors champions for the third consecutive year, scoring 118 points, while Hill finished second in the drivers championship with 91 points.

1995

Damon Hill driving the Williams FW17 at Montreal. Hill had qualified 2nd for the race but retired after completing 50 laps due to a gearbox problem

In 1995, Nigel Mansell left Williams again, this time he moved to McLaren to leave Williams with Hill and Coulthard. At the first round in Brazil, Schumacher start off with a win, with Coulthard coming second. However, both were disqualified from the race after it was found that their fuel supplier, Elf, supplied the teams with a type of fuel that was different than the ones they gave to the FIA as samples. So Gerhard Berger and Ferrari were declared winners, until Schumacher and Coulthard had their positions reinstated after appeal, though Benetton and Williams were not awarded their constructors points. Hill won the next two races in Argentina and San Marino and would later win two more races, which were at The Hungaroring and in Adelaide. Coulthard would also record his only win for the Williams team, at Estoril, before moving to McLaren. Benetton would end Williams 4 year dominance after they won the championship 29 points ahead Williams. Hill would come second for the second year running, 33 points behind Schumacher.

1996

Jacques Villeneuve driving the Williams FW18 at the 1996 Canadian Grand Prix. The Canadian qualified in 2nd for the race and finished second, finishing behind his team mate, Damon Hill

For 1996, Williams clearly had the quickest and most reliable car. Coulthard had left Williams to join Mika Häkkinen at McLaren, Williams replaced the Scotsman with Canadian Jacques Villeneuve, while Hill remained with the team. Schumacher left Benetton to join Ferrari. Williams won the first five Grand Prix, Hill winning all but one of them. Olivier Panis would take victory at the sixth round in Monaco after seriously wet conditions forced both Williams cars to retire. Hill would retire for the second time in a row after he spun off in Spain, while his team mate, Villeneuve, took third place. Hill and Villeneuve dominated the next Grand Prix in Canada, with a 1-2 in qualifying and a 1-2 in the race. Williams made it a second 1-2 after Hill won the Frech Grand Prix. Villeneuve won his second race in F1 at Silverstone after Hill retired after lap one. The Brit would be victorious in the next Grand Prix in Germany while Villeneuve would win the race after that in Hungary. Schumacher's Ferrari would then take the next two Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps and Monza. Hill won the final race of the season in Japan to win the 1996 title.

1997

The final season of Williams-Renault saw the exit of world champion, Damon Hill, who left to join Arrows after his contract with the team expired. Frank Williams brought in German Heinz-Harald Frentzen, under the impression that he'd perform better than Hill. This move would turn out not be a good one as he only won one race in his two year spell at Williams, which was at 1997 San Marino Grand Prix. Jacques Villeneuve won seven races during the season, with his main rival, Michael Schumacher, winning five. Williams also achieved the 100 race win milstone at the Hungarian Grand Prix, many F1 fans and critics alike believe the victory was an undeserved one after the effort Damon Hill made in his Arrows. Coming to the final round of the season at Jerez, Schumacher lead the Canadian by 1 point, however on lap 48, Schumacher and Villeneuve collided. Schumacher was disqualified as the accident was deemed by the FIA as "avoidable", the German later admitted that he did try to take the Canadian out. Williams won the constructors title for the second time in a row, scoring 123 points, while Jacques Villeneuve won the driver's championship by three points to Michael Schumacher.

Mecachrome (1998-1999)

Related Article: Mecachrome

1998

After 1997, the team were unable to maintain their dominance in Formula 1 as Renault ended their full time involvement in Formula 1, and Adrian Newey moved to rival team McLaren. Williams then had to pay for Mecachrome engines, which were old; rebadged Renault engines. From 1994 to 1997 the cars ran in the highly distinctive blue and white Rothmans livery, widely regarded as one of F1's most popular colour schemes. There were changes on the sponsorship front however as Rothmans opted to promote their Winfield brand. For 1998, Williams kept the two drivers from the previous season. The team took 3 podiums during the season, with Frentzen finishing in third at the first round in Australia and Villeneuve finishing third in Germany and Hungary. Williams finished third in the constructors championship, scoring 38 points, while Villeneuve finished fifth in the driver's championship with 21 points and his German team mate, Frentzen, finished 4 points behind him in seventh.

1999

In 1999, Williams employed a completely new driver line up, Villeneuve moved to new team, BAR and Frentzen moved to Jordan. Williams brought in German Ralf Schumacher and Italian Alex Zanardi. The team managed three podiums, all scored by Ralf Schumacher, with third place in Australia and Britain, along with a second place in Italy. The team finished fifth in the constructor's championship, the lowest finish for Williams in the 1990s; the team finished behind Stewart and Jordan; scoring 35 points, 3 less than the previous season.

BMW (2000-2005)

File:Williams f1.jpg

Ralf Schumacher driving for the WilliamsF1 team at the 2003 United States Grand Prix. The German qualified in fifth position before he span off on after completing 21 laps.

Related Article: BMW

2000

Juan Pablo Montoya enjoyed a successful 2003 season, coming third in the Driver's championship

During 1998, the team signed a long term agreement with BMW, with the German manufacturer supplying engines and expertise for a period of 6 years. As part of the deal BMW expected at least one driver to be German and Ralf Schumacher was signed. In 1999, the team had a Williams car with a BMW engine testing at circuits, in preparation for a debut in 2000. Williams sought the services of Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya as a proven racer for the up coming season season but he was initially unavailable, so Britain's Jenson Button made his debut instead.

BMW Williams' first season didn't see a single victory during the season, they did however, manage to get on the podium three times, Ralf Schumacher responsible for all three. Williams finished third in the constructor's championship, with 36 points; one more than last year. Ralf Schumacher finished fifth in the driver's championship, while Button, in his debut season, finished three places behind in eighth.

2001

Juan Pablo Montoya driving the Williams with the "Walrus-Nose" design during the 2004 United States Grand Prix. Montoya had qualified in fifth for the race, but he was disqualified for Illegally using the spare car

In 2001 Button moved to Benetton-Renault due to Montoya's arrival at the team. The FW23 won four races, three by Ralf Schumacher at Imola; Montreal and his home Grand Prix in Germany. While his teammate, Montoya, was victorious at Monza. Williams' 2001 campaign finished with a third place in the constructor's championship for the second year running.

2002

The Team participated in a demonstration in London's Regent Street prior to the 2004 British Grand Prix

For 2002, Williams kept their 2001 driver line up for the upcoming season. The team only won one race, which was at Malaysia, in a year dominated by the Ferrari's of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. Williams did improve on their constructor's championship position, finishing in second. Montoya finished third in the driver's championship, eight points ahead of Ralf Schumacher, who finished fourth.

2003

2003 would see BMW William reach their peak of success, during pre-season, Frank Williams was very confident that the FW25 would challenge for the title. The team won four races, Montoya winning twice at Monaco and Germany, while Ralf Schumacher won at the Nürburgring and the following race at Magny-Cours. Montoya stayed in contention for the driver's championship during the season, the Colombian finished third in the championship, 11 points behind Michael Schumacher, while the younger Schumacher finished 24 points behind Montoya in fifth. Williams finished second in the constructor's championship, two points ahead of McLaren.

2004

At the start of the 2004 season it was announced that Montoya would be moving to McLaren in 2005. The team began the season with a radical nose-cone design, known as the "Walrus-Nose", that proved un-competitive and was replaced by a more conventional assembly in the second half of the year. Ferrari for the third time running, dominated the season, winning 15 of the 18 races, Williams did however pick upa win during the season, which was at the final race in Brazil, Juan Pablo Montoya winning the race by a second to Kimi Räikkönen's McLaren. Another memorable part of the season was when both Williams and Toyota were diqualified from the Canadian Grand Prix after it was discovered that both cars had brake irregularities, the brake ducts seemingly not conforming to regulations. Williams finished the season in fourth, scoring 88 points and finishing on the podium six times. While Montoya was the highest placed Williams driver that year, finishing in fifth position; scoring 58 points.

2005

For the 2005 season, Schumacher moved to Toyota; while Montoya moved to McLaren. Taking their places were Australian Mark Webber and German Nick Heidfeld. Initially Jenson Button was to have driven for Williams in 2005, but an FIA ruling forced Button to remain with his current team BAR. Nick Heidfeld competed with Brazilian test driver Antônio Pizzonia for the remaining racing seat during December 2004 and January 2005, and Heidfeld was chosen, partly in preference to BMW's wishes for a German driver. Pizzonia served as the test driver for the team during the 2005 season. Meanwhile, Button signed a contract to drive for Williams in 2006.

During the course of the 2004 and 2005 F1 seasons, BMW Motorsport and director Mario Theissen increasingly became publicly critical of the WilliamsF1 team's inability to create a package capable of winning the constructors championship, or even multiple victories within a single season. Williams, on the other hand, blamed BMW for not producing a good enough engine. Williams' failed attempt to prise Jenson Button out of his BAR contract may also have been an issue with Theissen, as his preference was to have at least one German driver in the team. Despite Frank Williams' rare decision to cave in to commercial demands by employing German driver Nick Heidfeld when he allegedly preferred Antônio Pizzonia, the fallout between BMW and Williams continued through the 2005 Formula One season. This public deterioration of the relationship between BMW and WilliamsF1 eventually resulted in the decision by BMW Motorsport to buy Sauber and rebrand that team to feature the BMW name.

Williams could have opted to continue with BMW engines in 2006, despite the fact that the engine manufacturer was about to set up its own team. In the end, though, WilliamsF1 opted for Cosworth V8 engines for 2006.

This period saw Williams depart from the standard livery scheme in motorsport, which consists of one colour scheme, either the teams' or the major sponsors', with smaller logos in their own scheme. BMW stipulated that, and paid for, the whole vehicle to be in blue and white, with other sponsors adopting this scheme. Also in 2000, Williams abandoned tobacco advertising in favour of Information Technology companies, as the team's second major sponsor became Compaq. That sponsorship lasted until Compaq's acquisition by Hewlett-Packard. At the 2002 British Grand Prix, the team debuted the Hewlett-Packard sponsorship. After complaints about the HP logo on the rear wing it was replaced in 2003 with the sponsor's tag line, "Invent". One of the most memorable results of this technological partnership was a worldwide television commercial featured drivers Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya seemingly driving their BMW Williams cars around a track by radio control from a grandstand.

This "clean" image allowed Williams to sign a cigarette anti-craving brand, Niquitin, and Anheuser-Busch, alternating with the Budweiser beer brand and Sea World Adventure Parks, in compliance with trademark disputes or alcohol bans.

Cosworth (2006)

Related Article: Cosworth

2006

In late 2005, WilliamsF1 and Cosworth announced a partnership agreement for the 2006 season where Cosworth will supply WilliamsF1 with engines, transmissions and associated electronics and software. Cosworth have more experience in building V8 racing engines required by the 2006 Formula One regulations, than any other current F1 engine manufacturer and also have some history with Williams, being the engine suppler that the team started out with, and won the 1980 and 1982 championships with. On September 14, 2005 it was announced that the long running sponsorship agreement between WilliamsF1 and Hewlett Packard (HP) would be concluded one year before the official end of the contract.

Although neither Williams or HP offered any reason for the early termination some observers have speculated the loss of the title sponsor may be a result of continuing uncertainty over driver lineup for 2006. Despite having signed a contract to race for Williams, Jenson Button decided that he would prefer to stay with BAR for 2006 as it was to become a Honda works team. In September 2005 a deal was reached to allow Button to remain with BAR, with Williams receiving around £24m, some of it paid by Jenson himself, to cancel this contract.

Current Williams sponsors are Anheuser-Busch (with Budweiser or SeaWorld Adventure Parks, depending on the race, as some countries have trademark disputes over the Budweiser brand, or in Bahrain, Turkey, and France, a ban on alcohol advertising), Royal Bank of Scotland, or Allianz. Williams introduced a new interim livery for use during Winter testing - the car was predominantely midnight blue, and featured the white chevrons used as a logo on Frank Williams Racing cars in the late 1960s-early 1970s. Remaining Williams sponsors such as Petrobras and FedEx were all represented on the interim livery. Williams have also announced that Dutch giant Philips will join the team as a sponsor for 2006, although the amount for this deal has not been reported. TATA is also another sponsor of the team. The Indian car company signed a contract several hours after Narain Karthikeyan was announced as test driver.

Mark Webber is under contract to the team for 2006, but will leave .the team for Red Bull in 2007. Webber reportly said that Williams is underfunded and will not be able to contend for the championship in 2007. Alex Wurz will be replacing him and will be partnered by Nico Rosberg (son of Keke), who said that his main goal was to win the world title with Williams one day. Williams are entitled to use a third car on the Friday of a race weekend because they finished lower than 4th in the Constructor's Championship in 2005. On the 2nd of January, the team confirmed that Alexander Wurz became the team's official test and reserve driver for the 2006 season. Williams tried a number of drivers for that role during the winter testing in 2005 including Andy Priaulx and Narain Karthikeyan but opted for Wurz who brought a lot of experience having raced with Benetton for four years and filling the official test driver role for McLaren from 2001 until 2005. On the 27th of January, the team announced the signing of Narain Karthikeyan as the team's fourth driver for 2006.

The Cosworth engines are running better than the team expected, the team is proving more competitive than the new BMW Sauber team. Driver Nico Rosberg scored 2 points finishing 7th at the 2006 Bahrain Grand Prix, being his first Grand Prix, he also recorded the fastest lap. Just ahead of him Mark Webber scored 3 points finishing 6th. Alex Wurz, the third driver for Williams is also performing well, finishing in the first three positions in the free practice sessions. However, in recent races the BMW Sauber team has by far out-performed the Williams team, and the team has not managed a point finish in 8 races, its longest point dry spell in its history.

Toyota (2007 onwards)

Related Article: Toyota

On 27th July 2006, Williams and Toyota announced a deal for the Japanese car manufacturer to supply engines to Williams from 2007. On 2nd August 2006, Williams announced that Alexander Wurz would join Nico Rosberg on the grid.

On 4th August, 2006 Williams anounced the intention that Narain Karthikeyan would continue to be their test driver for 2007 season, although the contract has not yet been signed .

Racing history - Other motorsports

Group B rallying

Main article: Group B

File:Rover Metro 6R4.jpg

The Metro 6R4 was developed by Williams for the 1986 World Rally Championship

In 1980 Williams were commissioned by Rover to create a Rally car from the Metro hatchback. They shoe-horned a V6 engine (a completely new design, not at all based on the Rover V8 engine as is sometimes stated) to create the 4 wheel drive, mid-engined Metro 6R4, to the international Group B rallying regulations. Williams developed the car in just six months.

British Touring Car Championship

Main article: British Touring Car Championship

Williams, under the name Williams Touring Car Engineering, also ran Renault's team for the British Touring Car Championship from 1995-1999. The Renault Laguna based cars were produced at Williams' Didcot factory (the Formula One team having recently moved to new premises at Grove). The touring car venture was very successful, Williams-Renault won the Manufacturers title in 1995 and 1997 and the BTCC drivers title with Alain Menu in 1997.

Le Mans 24 Hours

File:BMW Williams LeMans1999.jpg

The BMW V12 was entered for the 1999 Le Mans 24 Hours. The car, driven by Pierluigi Martini; Yannick Dalmas and Joachim Winkelhock, won the race

Main article: Le Mans 24 Hours

Prior to their F1 partnership, Williams built a Le Mans racecar for BMW, the BMW V12. This won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1999. The car was driven by Pierluigi Martini; Yannick Dalmas and Joachim Winkelhock.

External links

• Official team website
• UnOfficial Team site - The Williams Database
• UnOfficial Team Fansite

References

• GrandPrix.com
• www.formula1.com
• Castrol.Com

Williams History (1967-2000) Taken from:

• Williams Team History 1967-77
• Williams Team History 1977-88
• Williams Team History 1996-2000

All Formula One race and championship results are taken from:

• Formula1.com - 1975-Present Achive. Retrieved 12 July 2006