A Team History

Frank Williams (team owner) became interested in motor
racing at boarding school in Scotland and quickly became
hooked on the sport, attending his first Grand Prix at the
age of 16 (Silverstone in 1958). When he left school he
joined the Rootes Group dealer in Nottingham as a management
trainee but all of Frank Williams spare time was spent
following the sport all over the UK.

His own racing career started in 1961 in an ex-Graham Hill
Speedwell Austin at Oulton Park. Finding the funding to
continue racing was an uphill battle and despite some good
results in Formula 3 he decided his talents lay not in
driving but in managing. At around the same time he moved
to Harrow with other motor sport fanatics and started a
spare parts business.

Up to 1969 Frank ran his own Formula 2 team with Piers
Courage and also prepared cars for other teams, however it
was in this year that he made his leap into Formula 1 with
Piers driving a privately owned Brabham. This first season
netted them 8th in the Drivers' Championship. Unfortunately
tragedy struck Frank Williams both in his team and his
private life when his close friend Piers Courage was killed
in the Dutch Grand Prix in a Williams prepared de Tomaso.
This started a difficult time for the team and only through
great motivation did the team survive.

In 1976 Williams Grand Prix Engineering was formed and the
base of todays team recruited (a young engineer Patrick Head
joined at this time). Head designed his first car and by the
start of the season Alan Jones had joined the fold. Head's
car, the FW06, was very competitive with Jones driving and
he stayed on for the next year where he was joined by Clay
Regazzoni in a second car.

The teams first win came later that season at the British
Grand Prix where after Jones' retirement, Regazzoni came
through to first place. This feat was repeated 4 more times
that season by Jones. Williams had become a major force in
F1.

Williams reliability became their major strength and took 4
Constructors' Championship's in 1980, 1981, 1986 and 1987.
In 1984 the team forged a new alliance with Honda when 
turbo cars became the norm. The FW10 also featured a new
idea, a carbon fibre chassis.

The alliance with Honda continued until 1988 when the FW12
was powered by a Judd engine. This alliance did not work 
as well as Frank had expected and he decided to try for a
works engine. Later that season Williams and Renault signed
a deal for exclusive supply of the new Renault v10. This was
initially signed for 1 year but was later lengthened to 
cover 1990 and 1991 as well.

The new Renault-FW13 driven by Thierry Boutsen and Riccardo
Patrese proved an immediate success giving Patrese 3rd in 
the Drivers' championship and 2nd in the Constructors'.
Although the next year was not quite as good it still gained
the 4th overall in the Constructors and gave them 2 wins and
several podium finishes.

The next season Nigel Mansell partnered Patrese giving
Williams 2nd and 3rd in the Drivers' and 2nd in the
Constructors' Championships. The following year was the
start of 3 years of dominance in the Constructors'
Chamionship and 2 consecutive Drivers' Championships, one
with the soon-to-depart Nigel Mansell and the other with
the returning Alain Prost.

The 1994 season looked to be getting off to a bad start when
Ayrton Senna, the man Williams hoped would take them to
another Championship, failed to finish the first 2 races.
Then there was the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola. The death
of Senna while leading shocked the world and seemed to throw
the team into bout of depression with Damon Hill failing to
finish the next race at Monaco. However Damon took a much
needed win at Barcelona and the team looked better. The
returned Nigel Mansell (for Magny-Cours, Jerez, Suzuka and
Adelaide) also gave the team the boost it needed. Together
Hill, Mansell with the ex- test driver David Coulhard gave
Williams the Constructors' Championship.


GP Wins: 78 
Constructors' Titles:7 
Drivers' Titles:5 

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Rothmans Williams-Renault Profile By Max Galvin
Source: Williams Grand Prix Engineering
