Current Williams

Williams Grand Prix Engineering

FIA Entry: AT&T Williams
Car 11: Rubens Barrichello
Car 12: Pastor Maldonado
Engine: Cosworth V8
Team Principal: Frank Williams
Director of Engineering: Patrick Head
Technical Director: Sam Michael
Race Engineer Car 11: Tony Ross
Race Engineer Car 12: Tom McCullough

Stats as of end 2010

First Entered 1977
Races Entered 539
Race Wins 113
Pole Positions 126
Fastest Laps 130
Driver World Championships 7
Constructor World Championships 9

Team History

The Early Years

Like many team owners and principals Frank Williams started life as a driver and mechanic. Realising his ability as a driver wouldn't allow him to reach the levels he hoped Williams set up Frank Williams Racing Cars and in 1969 entered a Brabham chassis for Piers Courage. Through to 1976 Williams entered customer cars from other manufacturers before settings up Williams Grand Prix Engineering in 1977 with Patrick Head.

Williams Grand Prix Engineering

In 1977 Williams GPE entered a March 761 for Patrick Neve. In 1978 Patrick Head designed his first Williams car, the FW06, driven by Australian Alan Jones The car scored it's first points at the South African Grand Prix and Jones took Williams first podium at Long Beach, finishing 2nd behind Carlos Reutemann in a Ferrari.

In 1979 the FW07 chassis debuted and Williams had grown into a 2 car team with Clay Regazzoni joining Alan Jones. Regazzoni scored Williams first Grand Prix victory at Silverstone and Jones took another 4 victories that season. Continuing with the FW07(in A and B spec) in 1980 Jones, now partnered by Carlos Reutemann, won 6 races (5 for Jones and 1 for Reutemann) with Jones winning the drivers title and Williams the Constructors Championship.

With the FW07 in C & D spec Williams won 4 more races and again took the Constructors Championship in 1981 but missed out on the Drivers Title. Continuing with Cosworth power in 1982 Williams moved onto the FW08, a car originally designed as 6 wheeler, and Keke Rosberg joined Carlos Reutemann. Reutemann retired 2 races into the season and Mario Andretti stood in for a single race before Derek Daly permanently replaced Reutemann. Rosberg only managed a single win at the Swiss Grand Prix 1982 but it was enough for him to win the Drivers Championship.

Having driven for Frank Williams back in 1974 and 1975 Jacques Laffite partnered Keke Rosberg in 1983. Rosberg won the Monaco Grand Prix with Cosworth power and by the end of the season Williams had moved to Honda turbo power and the FW09 chassis. 1984 continued the pattern of 1 win per season for Rosberg and the Williams team with Keke taking first place in Dallas.

The Honda Era

Nigel Mansell joined Williams in 1985 and the team, still with Honda turbo engines, won 4 Grand Prix. Piquet replaced Rosberg for 1986 and between them Mansell and Piquet won 9 of the 16 races and Williams the Constructors Championship. 1987 saw another 9 victories for the team and another victory in the Constructors Championship as well as Piquet winning the Drivers Title

The departure of Honda as engine supplier and Piquet as a driver in 1989 saw Williams move temporarily to Judd engines and Mansell, now partnered by Riccardo Patrese, had a very lean season with their highest finish only 4th.

Renault Power

Williams secured Renault V10 power for 1989 and the next 9 season proved to be Williams most successful. They won 63 Grands Prix, 5 Constructors Championship (1992, 93, 94, 96 & 97) and 4 Drivers Titles (Mansell 92, Prost 93, Hill 96 and Villeneuve 97). Other winners for Williams in this period of dominance included Riccardo Patrese, Thierry Boutsen, Heinz Harald Frentzen and David Coulthard. This period was also touched by tragedy when Ayrton Senna lost his life in a Williams car at the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola in 1994

The withdrawal of Renault from F1 in 1998 moved Williams into another barren spell as the cars were powered by ageing Renault engines produced by Mecachrome (98) and Supetec (99).

BMW Williams

Williams changed to BMW V10 engines in 2000 and returned to the winners circle in 2001 with Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya at the wheel. The partnership with BMW continued until 2006 with Williams winning 10 Grands Prix and were runners up in the Constructors Championship in 2002 and 2003. Ralph Schumacher drove for Williams for 6 season and was partnered by Alex Zanardi, Jenson Button (debuting in F1 in 2000) and Montoya with Mark Gene and Antonio Pizzonia making occasional appearances as stand in drivers. BMW's final season with Williams saw Mark Webber and Nick Heidfeld taking podiums but able to not challenge for wins.

Toyota Customer

A season of Cosworth power in 2006, with Mark Webber joined by F1 new boy Nico Rosberg, proved very unsuccessful and in 2007 Williams became customers of Toyota. As one of the few truly independent teams still competing in F1 Williams struggled to compete with the factory supported teams and were probably best categorised as "the best of the rest". Webber left at the end of 2007 and Rosberg, initially partnered by Alex Wurz and then by Toyota "works" driver Kazuki Nakajima, managed a highest finish of 2nd in Singapore 2008 with Williams finishing 4th, 8th and 7th in the Constructors Championship whilst using Toyota power.

In 2009 Williams sold a minority share in the company to an Austrian investment company led by Toto Wolff.

Williams Cosworth

In 2010 Williams returned to Cosworth engines and signed up Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg to drive for them. Hulkenberg took a surprising pole in changeable weather conditions in Brazil to give Williams their first such grid position since Nick Heidfeld in 2005. Although regular points finishers Williams weren't challenging for wins and finished the season 6th in Constructors Championship.

2011 sees Rubens Barrichello retain his seat at Williams with GP2 Champion Pastor Maldonado alongside him. They will continue with Cosworth engine power.

 

[The Artist.....]

RasputinLives - I'm less sure - I can see Williams duking it out with Saulfa Romeber, Haas and possibly even Toro Tauri...

 

[RasputinLives]

Hope springs eternal I guess. I think Williams should switch to Formula E now (where they produce most of the tech for the Jag car anyways) and save the companies name. Just me though.

 

[Il_leone]

There are worse things about Ticktum than having no F1 experience

You mean like Nissany who Claire Williams stress is hired for more than monetary reasons.. I've heard that said before about a certain Lance Stroll and look where Williams have ended up

 

[Il_leone]

I am interested to see given Williams have signed a raft of young British drivers in Chadwick, Aitken and Ticktum . What is their vision for the future regarding these drivers ?


RasputinLives In terms of staying alive and competing on a level playing field that would make sense but there is no way Williams will leave F1 - the family lives and breathes F1 it has been their livelihood. Going to Formula E would be considered a climb down for WIlliams which is still regarded as a legend in F1.

 

[RasputinLives]

You mean like Nissany who Claire Williams stress is hired for more than monetary reasons.. I've heard that said before about a certain Lance Stroll and look where Williams have ended up

No I mean that Ticktum overtook 15 cars under safety car conditions just so he could ram a rival he felt aggrieved by off the road.

 

[Il_leone]

No I mean that Ticktum overtook 15 cars under safety car conditions just so he could ram a rival he felt aggrieved by off the road.

I agree that was stupid but maybe being kicked in the balls he has learnt his lessons about doing hard work to get into F1. There is a part of me that says Helmut and Mr Haliwell need a bit more humility in treating young drivers. It should be fun seeing him and Max Verstappen on the same piece of track then

The nearest I could think of is Vettel deliberately hitting Hamilton at Baku behind the safety car

 

[Il_leone]

Williams decline 'not because I am a mum'

Claire Williams says "I can be a mother and run a Formula 1 team" after criticism following their performance last season.

www.bbc.co.uk

Whilst Williams appear to be better than last year there are still closer to the back than the front !
Just seen this article about Claire Williams - you have to respect her resilience and admission in being prepared to go through the difficult times as team principal and taking the flak. She is trying to prove women can succeed in a male dominated sport as a working mum.

Before anyone starts any sexist argument I just don't think she has the leadership skills given the debacle of last year's car

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

Sometimes it's better just to keep quiet.

 

[cider_and_toast]

Ross Brawn got his first job in F1 as a machinist with Williams in 1978.

He's been involved in winning a World Sports Car Championship, 7 F1 World Titles with Schumacher, lead his own team to a world constructors and drivers title and laid the foundations for today's Merc team.

He was awarded an OBE for services to motorsport 32 years after joining Williams, in 2010.

Claire Williams left Uni with a degree in politics in 1999, got a job at Silverstone, joined her dad's company in 2002, as communications officer and was appointed deputy principal in 2013.

Having achieved not a great deal she was awarded an OBE for services to Motorsport in 2016, 17 years after starting work in the press office at Silverstone.

 

[Greenlantern101]

Williams up for sale after £13m loss

The Williams Formula 1 team and wider company group are up for sale after posting a £13m loss last year.

www.bbc.co.uk

Anyone want to buy the second most successful F1 team in history. Just make sure Claire Williams is officially fired as part of the handover deal.

 

[RasputinLives]

*looks down back of sofa* - I've got £3.52?

In all seriousness I'm pretty sure the parents of Nicholas Lateffi will sell their shares in McLaren and buy a big stake in Williams. Whether that will be enough I do not know.

 

[Il_leone]

RasputinLives I know Audi are caught up in the diesel gate scandal but they've pulled out of DTM so all their resources are going to Formula E and Sportscars but surely F1 must be enticing given they don't need to set up a plant if they simply takeover Williams?

Yes the sale of WIlliams is sad for Frank and true fans of the sport such a legend has fallen so far but this was coming for the last few years.

Latifi's father buying the team - I am not sure he has the deep pockets of Lawrence Stroll to make this long term ?

cider_and_toast Ross Brawn deserves to be knighted but Claire Williams I think that was more to do with the fact that she was the first British woman team principal in F1. No doubt political correctness is involved

Quite frankly Claire has made a lot of bad decisions and this is the repercussions of it

 

[RasputinLives]

I'd be very surprised if Audi took it on. It would be a huge project. Audi's brand would demand they are competitive - which would take a lot of money to do - and would demand they ran their own engines - which would cost a lot of money. Add on to that the fact that the rules are stacked against them because the current manufacturers do not want to share their piece of the pie and I really don't see them going for it.

They've had many opportunities to come into F1 and never taken it so to do it now would be pretty mental.

No it will be some billionaire or upstart company that will try to milk the Williams name for all it can.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Williams should stop throwing money away on F1. They already build parts for the Formula E cars so if they went into Formula E (who would jump at the chance to have them) they would be straight off competitive and be running at the front of an international racing series for significantly less money. This would mean the production part of their organisation wouldn't get dragged down in a futile attempt to get back to something that does not exist anymore.

 

[siffert_fan]

I agree with that. I expect Formula E to replace F1 as the pinnacle of motorsport, given the latter's astronomical costs, complete lack of competition for the last decade and its lack of relevance to today's world.

 

[The Artist.....]

If formula E is to replace F1 as the pinnacle, I think two things need to happen:

1. They need to stop racing on Mickey Mouse circuits...
2. they need to sort out the tv coverage, so they are on free to air broadcast (and not just hidden behind the red button)...

 

[RasputinLives]

Yes because the tracks Formula 1 use always create fantastic racing.

 

[Andyoak]

What would really make the tracks work is being in proper city centers, that people recognise. That is why Monaco works: it looks stunning.

 

[siffert_fan]

The stunning appearance of Monaco is the only good thing about it. Barring accidents or breakdowns, the order on the first lap will be the order on the final lap; there is virtually no passing.

 

[Andyoak]

But you and I have both watched F1 for long enough to know it was possible. It's very much the car rather than the circuit.

The point I was alluding to, was that racing around the ExCel is not a London Grand Prix: it's a step up from donuts in the local Morrisons.

Racing should be in places people aspire to be. I like that FE is on street circuits: they suit the speed of the cars. But people want to see the landmarks.

Give people the landmarks and you'll get the TV coverage.

And Williams have in FE from the very beginning; in everything but name. I would love to see them embrace the series and lead it to a mass market.

 

[siffert_fan]

I would agree that some cities would present excellent venues: London, Paris and San Francisco being prime examples.

I would also love to see them on some of the circuits of old that I think would draw large tv audiences: Mont-Tremblant and Zandvoort being prime examples.