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History of the Williams GP Team.......  Alan Jones-1982 Champion
Early Days
The Williams is now ranked as one of the elite 'first division' teams in F1, but this has only been achieved by hard, dedicated work from relatively humble beginings
Frank Williams only enjoyed limited personal success as a racing driver but in 1969 he entered F1 racing with little money and a burning desire for success
Williams bought a Brabham BT26A and privately entered it under the name of Frank Williams (Racing Cars) Limited. The driver was his friend Piers Courage (a member of the wealthy brewing family) and he achieved
second placings at the Monaco and US GPs. Unfortunately Courage was killed at the 1970 Dutch Grand Prix.
Williams carried on with privately entered March racing cars but with little success during the early 1970s and in 1976 Williams entered a partnership with the Canadian businessman Walter Wolf but this was short lived.
In 1977, the foundations of the present successful team were established by Williams setting up a new
company Williams Grand Prix Engineering. Initally the new team raced a March 761, but Williams had started to build up his own design and engineering team and recruited the young and talented Patrick Head.
By the start of the 1978 season, the first Patrick Head-designed Formula One car, the FW06, was ready and Frank had found sponsorship to tempt the Australian, Alan Jones, to join the team. From that point, the team
never looked back, for the FW06 in the hands of Jones was extremely competitive.
With sponsorship from Saudi Airlines, Head designed his first GP car in 1978 - the FW06 powered by
Cosworth engine.In 1979 Jones continued as team leader with Clay Regazzoni in a second car. The team had really arrived at the British Grand Prix in 1979 when, after Jones disappointingly retired from the lead,
Regazzoni was able to drive to victory – the first ever for Frank Williams. The trend was to continue as Jones won four of the six remaining races that year.
1980s ......the glory years and personal disaster
The team emerged in the 1980s as the one to beat and a reliability record unequalled by any other helped them
to sweep to unchallenged and crushing victories in the Constructors' Championships of 1980, 1981, 1986 and 1987.
In 1982 the team aimed to become the first manufacturer to win the Constructors' title for a third consecutive
year. It wasn't to be but newly-signed Finn, Keke Rosberg, who replaced the retiring Jones, won a close fought Drivers' World Championship.
Keke Rosberg-1982 Champion 
Grand Prix racing's normally aspirated era was coming to an end and in 1983 it proved an uphill struggle, although Rosberg did win in great style at Monaco. Frank then announced a new association with Honda and
the Anglo-Japanese turbo combination first appeared at Kyalami in South Africa.
In 1984 the team was on a "learning curve" with turbo cars but the season was highlighted by Rosberg's Dallas
win. The team also moved into a superb new custom-built racing facility just a mile from their original home at Didcot.
1985 - Wins with Honda, Rosberg and Mansell
In 1985 the team had a new colourful image; Keke Rosberg had a new team-mate in Nigel Mansell; and the car, the Honda powered FW10, had an all-new carbon fibre chassis. The season started slowly but reached new
heights as the two drivers climbed to the top of the victory podium no less than four times. Rosberg won the USA East Grand Prix, Mansell's two consecutive wins at Brands Hatch and Kyalami were particularly sweet
as they were his first in Formula One and Rosberg's victory in Australia ensured a team hat- trick to round off the season.
Just prior to the start of the 1986 season, the team was dealt a severe blow. Whilst driving away from pre-season testing at the Paul Ricard circuit in France, Frank Williams' car left the road and overturned. It was
an accident that left him confined to a wheelchair and so nearly claimed his life but, instead of bemoaning his fate, he fought his way back to lead the company in the only way he knew how. New to the team in 1986 was
Brazilian former World Champion, Nelson Piquet, a worthy replacement for Keke Rosberg. He quickly adapted to the FW11 and took the new car to victory in the debut race in Brazil. The team went on to win nine
Grands Prix in 1986 and secured the prestigious Constructors' World Championship.
Constructor and Driver titles in 1987
Success continued in 1987 with the team winning nine races again (six by Mansell, three by Piquet) with the modified FW11. This time they made sure of not only the Constructors' but also the Drivers' Championship,
with Piquet taking his third title and Mansell runner-up for the second consecutive year.
For 1988 there were many changes. Mansell had a new team-mate in the vastly experienced Italian, Riccardo
Patrese. Also the four year association with Honda ended and the team used the normally aspirated 3.5 litre Judd engine in the FW12. Unfortunately mechanical problems dogged the team's efforts during the year but
despite this Mansell finished second at both Silverstone and Jerez, with Patrese achieving his season best with a fourth in Adelaide.
1990s ........highs and lows
Williams partnership with Renault provided the means for Nigel Mansell to take his World Championship in 1992, followed by Alain Prost's Championship in 1993 but the following season, Ayrton Senna (one of the
outstanding drivers of his generation) who had taken over as Williams number 1 driver was killed at Imola. The shock of Senna's death had great impact on the Williams team and GP racing generally. The threat of legal
action arising from the accident continued to hang over Williams for nearly 3.5 years until the cases against Frank Williams, Patrick Head and Adrian Newey were finally dismissed by the judge. Damon Hill having taken
over as lead driver, took the 1996 Drivers World Championship, with his partner Jacques Villeneuve finishing second in the Championship. Villeneuve took over as no1 driver and took the 1997 Drivers Championship
Renault withdrew as an engine supplier from the end of the 1997 season and to 'bridge the gap' until a new long
term engine supplier could be found, Williams secured a 2 year agreement for the Renault V10 to be suppled on a commercial basis. Williams then secured a 5 year agreement with BMW which includes the supply of F1
engines. Frank Williams is well aware there is no sentiment in F1 and 'a team is only good as its last season's
results or even its last race'...... many illustrious F1 names have started a downward spiral and disappeared - for example Brabham and Lotus.
The 1998 and 1999 seasons by Williams high standards were poor. In 1998 the Team finished third in the Constructors Championship. For 1999 the driver 'line up' was the double CART champion driver Alex Zanardi
and Ralf Schumacher. Schumacher managed to gain a number of top six positions in the race results and for many obervers was the 'most improved driver' for 1999 but Zanardi, for what ever reason, had a very
disappointing season. Williams finished a 4th in the Contstructors Championsip behind Jordan and Frank Williams terminated Zanardi's contract.
Rebuilding the Team
In year 2000 the Williams Team changed to the blue and white colours of BMW and used the new BMW engine. The new driver line was Ralf Schmacher and Jenson Button. Year 2000 was expected to be a
development season particularly since BMW had been out for F1 racing since the mid 1980s but the team soon demonstrated potential. Jenson Button although a 'novice' soon exhibited his natural driving talents.
For 2001 Sir Frank will be looking to build on last years successes, with a new lighter and more powerful engine from BMW and controversial changes to his driver line up. Jenson Button (still under personal contract
to Sir Frank) goes off to drive for Benneton and in comes another of Sir Frank's proteges - Juan Montoya from a successful career in CART racing in the USA. Montoya soon settled and demonstrated similar lap times to
Ralf Schumacher and there is already evidence of strong competition between the two drivers. 2001 should be an interesting season.
Grand Prix Racing is big business
Sir Frank Williams - Team Principal
Frank Williams has built up his business interests in Williams Grand Prix Engineering and the Financial Times
reported that after talks with the City Of London Institutions about a possible floation on the London Stock Exchange, the Williams F1 Team was valued at about £125M (about US$185M). In 1998 the business made
just under £10M (about US $15M)profit on £67.7M (About US$105M) sales. The Sunday Times 2000 Rich List (a survey of Britain's Richest 1,000) calculates Frank Williams personal assets which includes 70%
ownership of Williams GP Engineering to be worth about £97M (US$150M) ranking him joint 327th in the top 1,000.
The Sunday Times survey, also estimates Patrick Head (Frank Williams partner and Technical Director of Williams Grand Prix Engineering with a 30% stake) to have personal assets of about £42M making him equal 735th
Williams Grand Prix Engineering a few years ago moved from their original premises in Didcot to a new purpose built head quarters at Grove, Oxfordshire UK, which includes first class conference facilities, a
museum of Williams GP cars, as well as 'high tech' engineering facilities.
In the 1999 Queen's New Years Honours, Frank Williams received a knighthood in recognition of his services to motor sport.
Williams Drivers who have won the Drivers World Championship....
1980 Alan Jones (Australia) - Williams Ford Cosworth
1982 Keke Rosberg (Finland) - Williams Ford Cosworth
1987 Nelson Piquet (Brazil) - Williams Honda
1992 Nigel Mansell (GB) - Williams Renault
1993 Alain Prost (France) - Williams Renault
1996 Damon Hill (GB) - Williams Renault
1997 Jacques Villeneuve (Canada) - Williams Renault
It is interesting to note that both Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost both left Williams after gaining their
Championship, and Damon Hill was told by Williams that his contract would not be renewed for 1997, even though he had a clear lead in the 1996 World Championship points and was to take the Championship. Jacques
Villeneuve in his second year in F1 took over as lead driver from Hill and gained the 1997 Drivers Championship, but left in 1999 to join the BAR team. Alex Zanardi who joined the Williams team as double
holder of thee CART Drivers' Championship had his contract terminated after one disappointing season. Frank Williams is at times prepared to make controversial decisions concerning his drivers' contracts and seems to be
determined to retain control of his team and not give in to 'Driver power' demands for more money and status.
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