Joseph Willows

as of 2023 European GP

Joseph Willows is the most successful and was the series' first world championship winner in 2006. He is the only driver to have competed in every race since the championships inception. He is currently driving for the BMW McLaren F1 Team in the main series of the 2023 OC. He was the first driver to achieve more than one championship win in 2006 and 2008 both with McLaren, a record he held until Florian Völker won his second title in 2011.

Widely revered as one of the greatest drivers in OC history, Willows is the most successful driver in terms of race wins and holds the record for races competed in. A classy sportsman and well mannered individual, Willows has earned praise for his pioneering early displays for McLaren, with a focus on good strategy and a setup that favoured races situations that could carve through the field come race day. He garnered a reputation as a fearsome over-taker and perennial race winner during the championships early inception years. He is referred to as GP4's First Great All Rounder, with a natural ability to win races in machinery that was generally viewed as inferior and unviable. This will to win has led to an unassailable record of winning a race in every season he competed in up until 2019, when his streak came to an end in 2020.

## 2006 - McLaren Debut

Debuting for McLaren in 2006, Willows made an almost immediate impression, establishing himself at the forefront in the early races of the newly formed championship.

He scored a podium on his debut in Bahrain and won his first race 7 events later in front of a sell out home crowd at Silverstone.

He endured a poor middle part of the season as the sport entered America and returned to Europe; however he was resurgent towards the end of the year, winning 3 out of 4 races before the final race of the season.

This meant that Willows entered the final round in Brazil as favourite to take the inaugural championship. Going into battle with long time championship leader, Renaults Joshua Anderson, Willows' 2nd place and a lowly 5th for Anderson gifted the Midlands Maestro his first world title at the first time of asking.

## 2007 - Defending Champion

Willows was retained as champion by McLaren to partner incoming Honda driver, Jyri Määttä. Little did anyone know that 2007 would be one of the most exciting seasons in the sport's history.

At the opening round in Australia, Willows led most of the grand prix before crashing in a rare unenforced error for the Brit, thus allowing Ferrari's Will Neller to win. Willows then struggled for consistency compared to his teammate Määttä, before winning his first race of the season in Canada. This victory was made even more special by the fact he had started the race last on the grid and had stormed through the field to break the record for most overtakes en-route to a Grand Prix win. The result has gone down in History as one of the all time greatest Grand Prix wins.

From then on in, Willows was in imperious form. From France onwards, he didn't finish outside the top 2 positions, finally looking like he had the edge of his Finnish teammate who had outperformed him consistently in the races prior, and with long time championship leader, Will Neller, faltering badly in the second half of the season, Willows had dragged himself into championship contention with Määttä not far behind.

It all came down to a title decider at the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos, with just 6 points separating the top 3. Willows led the title on 96 points, followed closely by Neller on 93 and Määttä the outsider with 90. Willows led off the line with Määttä behind and Neller third. The Ferrari had just started to pick up the pace and was starting to trouble the leading McLarens before crashing at Turn 1 and thus ending any title hopes. It all fell to the two teammates, Määttä was running his British counterpart close but Willows was controlling things magnificently and could afford to let his teammate by and still be champion. However, late on in the grand prix, Willows push too hard and in an incident identical to Neller's a few laps prior, crashed out of the race. Määttä took damage and was forced to pit for a new wing, but all that was required was a second place to crown the Fin as champion. He duly delivered and snatched a second world title from the hands of the defending champion.

## 2008 - Double World Champion

Wanting to right the wrongs of the previous year, Willows was in untouchable form for 2008. His new McLaren was very consistent, and whilst Neller offered a challenge in the opening rounds of the year, Willows won 3 in a row midway through the year and from then on was just far more consistent and outright faster than his Ferrari challenger.

In the midst's of this success, Willows suffered a mid-season change in teammate. Defending champion, Jyri Määttä suddenly retired from the championship following a poor start to the season. As such, Willows found himself partnered with Felix Sonntag who had deferred from Ferrari following an equally slow start. It made no difference as Willows outperformed both of them as he comfortably romped to the championship, 30 points ahead of Neller, with 4 wins and 11 podiums out of the 18 races that season. At the time it was the biggest margin by which a title was won, and was also the first time a driver has won a world championship more than once.

## 2009-10 - Final Years with McLaren

2009 was to be so much tougher for Willows, his new McLaren compared to the previous three seasons, was both slow and unreliable. Willows suffered a horrendous accident on the penultimate lap of the opening round of the season in Australia, as race leader Alex Southgate slid into the side of his McLaren when lapping, sending it into a devastating roll. Willows was miraculously unharmed, however the crash seemed to sap his confidence as he mustered a solitary podium finish out of the opening 9 races of the year.

The German Grand Prix proved to be a breakthrough for both Willows and McLaren, the car liked the track and conditions and as such, the Midlands Maestro was in fine form taking a first win of the year for both driver and constructor. Unfortunately, this was his only highlight of the year as a smattering of points finishes and a rare podium would bookend his year as he fell to a disappointing Seventh in the standings, behind his teammate Sonntag,

2010 proved to be no more fruitful than 2009, whilst it was slightly more competitive, McLaren's competitors had stretched even further ahead in the off-season. As such, Willows struggled to a handful of podiums and a win in Germany again. But suffered the indignity of five consecutive retirements before seasons close, he remedied it with another win, this time in Abu Dhabi, but it was scant respite for another miserable season which saw him improve on his 2009 finishing position, but only just with Sixth however this time ahead of his teammate Sonntag.

Unimpressed with two sub standard seasons at McLaren, Willows sought a change for 2010 and was approached by Ferrari to replace a departing WIll Neller. An offer Willows duly accepted.

## 2011-12 - Initial Success at Ferrari

Willows followed big boots at Ferrari and faced a tougher proposition of teammate in Belgian hotshot Wais Kuba. Willows had nothing to fear as he absolutely demolished his teammate over the course of the season. He won in only his second race for the team in Malaysia, and then followed this up 2 weeks later with a win in Turkey. Whilst suffering a bout of reliability problems mid season, further podiums and successes back to back in India and Abu Dhabi rounded off a fine opening season for the Scuderia. Whilst not a title competitor throughout, it was a solid start to proceedings at the Italian marquee with fourth overall in the standings, and miles ahead of Kuba.

By comparison, 2012 started very poorly for Willows. He failed to score in the opening 4 rounds of the year, before a strong middle of the season which returned numerous podiums and 2 wins in Canada, and for the third time in as many years, Abu Dhabi, to miraculously put him into title contention going into the final round in Brazil. Up against Danish wonderkid, Viggo Holst, who was ironically in a McLaren; Willows was the outsider and failed to produce the result needed to take a third title. Nonetheless, runner up in the championship was his best result since 2008, however the challenge from Kuba was much stronger and he only finished slightly off his double world champion teammate.

## 2013-16 - Mid Table Obscurity

2013 was more of the same from the seasons prior to 2012. He found himself in mid table battling chiefly at the top end of the points but rarely for wins and podiums. All in all, he took 3 podiums and a solitary win, at home in Silverstone, all season, his worst return since 2009. His teammate by comparison won four grand prix and was in title contention during the early stages of the season before falling away in the latter races of the year. Firmly entrenched in mid table, Willows was Eighth overall, marking his career lowest finish in the standings.

2014 was not much of an improvement. Now partnered by triple world champion, Florian Völker, who had absconded from Red Bull at the end of the previous year. In doing so, Ferrari had statistically the most successful pairing on the grid. Unfortunately, the machinery they had at their disposal was not befitting of their talents. The new Ferrari was again stuck in the midfield. Both drivers would take a single win each, but Willows only managed a single podium other than that, thus marking another low point in his illustrious career. Despite finishing ahead of Völker in the final standings, it was scant recompense for another poor season.

Whilst 2015 offered an improved showing for Ferrari, Willows would find himself playing second fiddle to his triple champion teammate as the talented German found himself challenging for the championship against the pacesetting Mercedes cars. Willows won the opening round in Australia and would later win on Italian home soil becoming just the second Ferrari driver to win at Monza. A final win of the year in Singapore and a few podiums following this, led him to a comfortable fourth in the standings. However, his teammate had convincingly taken the title, which slightly dampened spirits on this improved overall showing.

Another mediocre season followed in 2016, a single win in China was his only main highlight as the new Ferrari faltered and failed to deliver a title defense to the dominant Mercedes cars. This win would be Ferrari's only victory all season as Völker offered no challenge whatsoever, failing to deliver a first place all year.

Losing faith in the Italian Marquee's ability to deliver a title. Willows persisted for one more year into 2017, hoping that fortunes would change.

## 2017 - Title Contender

2017 delivered almost immediately. The new car was instantly competitive and delivered numerous wins throughout the season. Always fighting at the front of the field, it was the closest challenger to the favored Mercedes cars. Willows took 6 wins and 10 podiums, his best return for 4 seasons en route to runner up to close colleague Will Neller in the standings.

He was a title contender throughout and would've won the title if not for some costly retirements. Willows was mathematically in contention up until the penultimate round in Abu Dhabi when a collision with his teammate Völker dropped him down the order, ending his hopes.

Nonetheless, it was enough to show the maestro that there was life in Ferrari yet and convinced him to remain at the team for 2018.