Williams

### Notes

Statistics excludes seasons as Frank Williams Racing Cars and Walter Wolf Racing, both of which were owned by Frank Williams.

## Formula One World Championship Statistics

### Engines

Ford Cosworth (1977–1983)
Honda (1983–1987)
Judd (1988)
**Renault** (1989–present)

### Last entry

1993 San Marino Grand Prix

**Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited**, currently racing in Formula One as **Canon Williams Team**, is a British Formula One team and constructor. It was founded by Frank Williams and Patrick Head. The team was formed in 1977 after Frank Williams' earlier unsuccessful F1 operation: Frank Williams Racing Cars (which later became Wolf–Williams Racing in 1976). The team is based in Didcot, Oxfordshire, England.

## History

#### 1977

Williams entered a March 761 for the 1977 season. Lone driver Patrick Nève competed in 11 races that year, starting with the Spanish Grand Prix. The new team failed to score a point, achieving a best finish of 7th at the Italian Grand Prix.

#### 1978

For the 1978 season, Patrick Head designed the first Williams car: the FW06. Williams signed Alan Jones, who had won the Austrian Grand Prix the previous season for a devastated Shadow team following the death of their lead driver, Tom Pryce. Jones's first race for the team was the Argentine Grand Prix where he qualified in 14th position but retired after 36 laps due to a fuel system failure. The team scored its first championship points two races later at the South African Grand Prix when Jones finished in fourth. Williams earnt their first podium at the United States Grand Prix, where Jones came second, 20 seconds behind the Ferrari of Carlos Reutemann. Williams finished the season in ninth place in the Constructors' Championship, with a respectable 11 points, while Alan Jones finished 11th in the Drivers' Championship. Towards the end of 1978, Frank Williams recruited Frank Dernie to join Patrick Head in the design office.

#### 1979

Head designed the FW07 chassis and gearbox for the 1979 season with Frank Dernie picking up the suspension, aerodynamic development and skirt design. This was the team's first ground effect car, a technology that was first introduced by Colin Chapman and Team Lotus. Williams also obtained membership of the Formula One Constructors' Association (FOCA) which expressed a preference for teams to run two cars, so Jones was joined at the team by Clay Regazzoni. It was not until the seventh round of the championship, the Monaco Grand Prix, that they finished in the points. Regazzoni came close to taking the team's first win but finished second, less than a second behind race winner Jody Scheckter. The next race, the French Grand Prix, 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; as Jones was fourth with Regazzoni in sixth. The team's first win came at the British Grand Prix (their home Grand Prix) when Regazzoni finished 25 seconds ahead of second place.

Greater success followed when Williams got a 1-2 finish at the next round in Germany, Jones in first with Regazzoni two seconds behind in second. Jones then made it three wins in a row at the Austrian Grand Prix, finishing half a minute ahead of Gilles Villeneuve's Ferrari. Three wins in a row became four two weeks later at the Dutch Grand Prix, with Alan Jones winning yet again by a comfortable margin over Jody Scheckter's Ferrari. Scheckter ended Williams' winning streak when he won the Italian Grand Prix; with Regazzoni finishing third behind Scheckter and Villeneuve. Alan Jones managed another win at the penultimate race in Canada to cap off a great season.

Williams had greatly improved their Constructors' Championship position, finishing eight places higher than the previous year and scoring 59 more points. Alan Jones was the closest driver to the Ferrari duo of Villeneuve and 1979 champion Jody Scheckter. Jones scored 43 points, 17 points behind Scheckter, while Regazzoni was two places behind him with 32 points.

#### 1980

Before the start of the 1980 season, Regazzoni left the team. So, Carlos Reutemann joined the team. Williams started strong in the championship, with Jones winning the first race of the season in Argentina. Jones won four more races: the French Grand Prix, the British Grand Prix, the Canadian Grand Prix and, the last race of the season, the United States Grand Prix. Jones became the first of seven Williams drivers to win the Drivers' Championship, 17 points ahead of Nelson Piquet's Brabham. Williams also won its first Constructors' Championship, scoring 120 points, almost twice as many as second-placed Ligier.

#### 1981

Williams won four races in 1981. Alan Jones won the first race of the season, the United States West Grand Prix, and the final race of the season, the Caesars Palace Grand Prix. Meanwhile, Carlos Reutemann won the Brazilian Grand Prix and the Belgian Grand Prix. Williams won the Constructors' title for the second year in a row, scoring 95 points, 34 points more than second-placed Brabham.

#### 1982

This season, Alan Jones retired from Formula One (though he would come back a year later for a single race with the Arrows team). The Australian was replaced by Keke Rosberg. Rosberg had not scored a single point the previous year. He won the Drivers' title that year despite winning only one race, the Swiss Grand Prix. Rosberg's teammate, Reutemann, finished in 15th place having quit Formula One after just two races of the new season. His seat was filled by Mario Andretti for the United States Grand Prix West; before Derek Daly took over for the rest of the year. Williams finished fourth in the Constructors' Championship that year, 16 points behind first-place Ferrari.

#### 1983

Frank Williams looked towards Honda, who was developing a turbocharged V6 engine with Spirit. A deal between Honda and Williams was settled early in 1983 and the team used the engines for the 1984 season. For the 1983 season however, Williams continued to use the Ford engine except for the last race of the year in South Africa; where Keke Rosberg finished in an impressive fifth place. The team finished fourth in the Constructors' Championship, scoring 36 points. Also, Rosberg won that year's Monaco Grand Prix.

#### 1984

For the 1984 season, the team ran an FW09. Keke Rosberg won the Dallas Grand Prix and finished in second at the opening race in Brazil. Rosberg's new teammate, Jacques Laffite, came 14th in the Drivers' Championship with five points. The team finished sixth in the Constructors' with 25.5 points, with Rosberg finishing in eighth in the Drivers' Championship.

#### 1985

In 1985, Head designed the FW10, the team's first chassis to employ the carbon-fibre composite technology pioneered by McLaren. Nigel Mansell replaced Laffite to partner with Rosberg. Dernie produced another competitive aerodynamic package. The team scored four wins with Rosberg winning the Detroit and Australian Grands Prix, and Mansell won the European Grand Prix and the South African Grand Prix. Williams finished in third in the Constructors' Championship, scoring 71 points. The 1985 season saw the team change their livery to the blue, white and yellow scheme, along with new title sponsor, Canon.

During qualifying for the British Grand Prix, Rosberg completed a lap of the circuit in 1:05.591. The lap's average speed was 160.938 mph (259 km/h). This was the fastest recorded lap in Formula One history to that point.

#### 1986

In March 1986, Frank Williams faced the most serious challenge of his life. While returning to the airport at Nice, France, after pre-season testing, he was involved in a road accident that left him paralysed. He did not return to the pit lane for almost a year. Despite the lack of his trackside presence, the Williams team won nine Grands Prix and the Constructors' Championship and came close to winning the Drivers' Championship with Nigel Mansell, but the British driver's left-rear tyre blew at the Australian Grand Prix, the final race of the season, while his fellow championship rival and new teammate, Nelson Piquet made a pitstop shortly after Mansell's retirement as a precaution. This left Alain Prost to defend his title successfully, despite being in a slower car.

#### 1987

The 1987 season would be a repeat of the previous season with Piquet and Mansell both fighting for the title and securing 4 wins each.

During the Italian Grand Prix weekend, Honda announced that they were terminating their agreement to supply Williams's engines one year early. Despite the relationship between the two sides being successful (taking over 20 wins together since 1984), the Japanese marque was unhappy with Williams insisting on equal treatment for both drivers. Honda saw Williams's dramatic loss of the World Drivers' Championship in 1986 as an issue with team management - had one driver been favoured over the other (Honda were rumoured to be paying the majority of Piquet's retainer), they would have won the championship. Both Frank Williams and Patrick Head insisted that the World Constructors' Championship was a quietly spoken priority for the team, whilst Honda preferred the bragging rights of the individual title. Honda had also began a partnership with Lotus, partly to spite Williams, as they had Ayrton Senna and the Japanese driver that Honda wanted at Williams, Satoru Nakajima. Honda's belief was that the powerful engine and the talented Brazilian would wipe the floor with Williams. By the 11th round at Monza, Williams had thrashed the competition, winning all but three races (Lotus, with Senna, had won two, and would not win again for the rest of the season), and would be on pole position at that weekend's race.

Unfortunately for Williams, Prost's fight back had begun at the previous round in Hungary, and he would win five out of the remaining six races (Piquet would pick up the other win) to deny the Williams pair World Drivers' Championship glory once more. Yet again, the domination of the Williams pair saw them better McLaren's 1984 World Constructors' Championship total by half a point to set a record in their defence of the WCC, ending the season with 8 victories and 144 points.

#### 1988

Unable to make a deal with another major engine manufacturer, Williams used naturally aspirated Judd engines for the 1988 season. The humble Judd V8 left them with a significant performance deficit compared with their turbo-powered rivals, as Williams opted for a "stopgap" solution before the sport banned turbo engines in 1989. The Judd engines were perfectly satisfactory in the hands of an average team, but for the two-time defending World Constructors' Champions, the weaknesses in the powerplant were exposed.

Mansell left for Ferrari, while Piquet left to join Lotus who had retained their Honda engines for the 1988 season, helped by having Satoru Nakajima as number 2 driver to Piquet. Nelson Piquet called Frank Dernie every week to persuade him to join Lotus. Eventually Dernie moved to Lotus to become their new Technical Director. Williams brought in Martin Brundle and Riccardo Patrese to replace Mansell and Piquet. The team did not manage a podium finish that season and finished seventh in the Constructors' Championship, scoring 16 points.

#### 1989

In June 1988, Renault announced their return to the sport less than two years after their withdrawal, joining up with Williams from 1989 on an initial three-year deal. Williams began testing with Renault immediately, racing the FW12 chassis, whilst testing the Bernard Dudot-designed *RS1* V10 engine in the FW12B. Over the winter, Williams' designer Enrique Scalabroni further refined the FW12B into the FW12C. The major design changes centered around fine-tuning of the complex Renault installation and a reversion to Passive suspension in place of the FW12’s sometimes-problematic Active system.

Patrese was retained, but Brundle made way for the prodigious British talent, Joey Davies, who gave several stunning performances in the naturally aspirated March the previous term. Davies immediately put the world on notice, with the new Williams-Renault partnership scoring a pole position in its first race. However, both drivers would retire from the season-opening Brazilian Grand Prix. Davies would deliver the team's first win since 1987 at the next race, but the team continued to struggle for results and were hit hard by Davies' crash in qualifying at Monaco, which would see him sidelined for three races. Davies would again secure another win for Williams at the British Grand Prix, but that would be the pinnacle of the team's success for 1989, and poor reliability for Davies towards the end of the season robbed the team of more success and they would conclude the season third in the Championship on 65 points, 42 points behind second place Ferrari.

#### 1990

With Ayrton Senna opting to sign for Ferrari, Nigel Mansell returned to the team in 1990 to partner Joey Davies, under the proviso that he was the team's undisputed number one driver. The team agreed, and Mansell and his famous "Red 5" returned to the grid. At the final pre-season test at Imola, Joey Davies suffered serious injuries in a crash, that would sideline him for the first four races. Williams tested a number of drivers, including CART competitors Michael Andretti and Al Unser Jr., but test driver Mark Blundell won the opportunity to replace Davies. Blundell performed impressively, getting two points finishes in his stint.

However, the team lacked competitiveness and only secured 2 podium finishes from the first 12 races. Frustrated at his treatment within the team, and the fractious relationship with his teammate, Davies announced he would depart the team at the conclusion of 1990 to sign for title rivals, McLaren. Davies continued professionally with the team, and dominated the tail end of the campaign, with four consecutive wins in the final five races. This late surge helped Williams to third in the Constructors' Championship, ending the season with four wins and 87 points, seven points off McLaren in second place.

#### 1991

With the departure of Davies for 1991, Williams would bring in Jean Alesi to replace him, partly to appease engine partner Renault, who preferred a countryman in the car. Aerodynamicist Adrian Newey had joined the team in mid-1990 from March (with a recommendation from Joey Davies), and with a bigger budget to work with, Newey was able to flesh out the concepts that he had previously designed on a cost-effective basis. The FW14 was one of the most technically advanced cars in the 1991 field, but both cars would only finish five times over the course of a sixteen-race season. In particular, Williams's implementation of a semi-automatic transmission was troublesome.

Mansell began the season with three podiums, including a win at Imola in round 3, but, four consecutive retirements in mid-season put him on the back-foot against his main rival for the championship, his former teammate Davies. Following this, Mansell regained form, with four podium finishes in five races, with wins in Hungary and Belgium, taking the fight for the championship down to the final race in Adelaide. Alesi in the second car would suffer more from the reliability issues, with seven retirements during the season to Mansell's six.

In one of the most controversial races in the sport's history, Mansell lost out on the championship on a controversial manoeuvre performed by Davies on the final corner of the final lap of the final race, with Davies securing the win he needed to gain the championship, putting Mansell in second place. Mansell and Davies famously scuffled as they got out of their cars, and a furious Mansell boycotted the podium ceremony. The FIA charged Mansell with bringing the sport into disrepute, ending Williams's season on a sour note. Mansell was sensationally cleared by the FIA, appeasing fears that Mansell would be forced to leave the team due to pressure from commercial partners. The season ended with Williams finishing second in the World Constructors' Championship once again on 105 points.

#### 1992

Williams took a step up for the 1992 season, keeping their 1991 driver line-up of Mansell and Alesi. Mansell dominated the first half of the season, securing five wins in eight races. Alesi did not have the same positive form and he would be spectacularly dropped ahead of the British Grand Prix, to be replaced by Jordan driver Damon Hill. Hill would prove to be competitive in the second half of the season securing four podiums in seven races.

The second half of the season would be challenging for Mansell with five retirements in the last eight races. The competition between Mansell and Davies would prove so tenacious that when a retiring Mansell collided with Davies at the German Grand Prix, there would be serious allegations of deliberate intent and Mansell would receive a one-race ban, excluding him from the Hungarian Grand Prix. For the Hungarian race, Mansell would be replaced in the Williams car by American driver Al Unser Jr. Mansell had expressed his frustration throughout the season and eventually announced he would retire at the end of the season. Despite announcing his retirement for Formula One, Mansell still had work to do as Davies was charging hard to secure the title for 1992. At the season finale, Mansell would return to form and would win the race and title from Davies, avenging his loss from the previous year. Despite Mansell winning the Drivers' Championship, Williams finished second in the Constructors' Championship with six wins and 108 points.

#### 1993

Mansell's retirement from Formula One enabled him to race in the Indy Car World Series, a high-profile defection that brought increased attention for the American open wheel racing series from the other side of the Atlantic. Williams's long-standing interest in Ayrton Senna finally paid off, as he joined the team at the conclusion of his Ferrari deal. Senna and Hill would partner up to drive the FW15C, the most technologically sophisticated Formula One car ever built. Williams entered pre-season as hot favourites for both championships, but expectations were tempered after Senna suffered a massive crash at Imola where he was lucky to walk away with just bruises. The Williams pair dominated the first two meetings of 1993, with Senna living up to expectations by winning the opening two rounds.

## Formula One record

### Entrant names

 1979
 1980–1981
 1981–1983

### Season-by-season record

*Note: Excludes seasons as Frank Williams Racing Cars and Walter Wolf Racing, both of which were owned by Frank Williams.*

*Drivers' champions in **bold**.*

Notes

* \* – Season still in progress.

#### Milestone wins

 10
 25

### Williams driver Grand Prix count

Notes

* \* – Season still in progress.

## Notes

1. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Maurice Hamilton (2021-08-25). "Flashback...". *Motor Sport*. Motor Sport Magazine Limited.
2. ↑ Hamilton, Maurice (2017-09-01). 30 years later: Honda's awkward Italian Grand Prix. ESPN F1. Retrieved on December 8, 2023.
3. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>"Around and About". *Motor Sport*. Teesdale Publishing Company Limited. 1988-08-01.
4. ↑ https://www.salracing.com/story/2022/8/the-1989-williams-fw12c
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 For the purposes of the World Constructors' Championship, a constructor is the combination of the person or body which designs the chassis and engine of the entry. Thus, Williams-Ford and Williams-Honda are recognised as separate entries in the championship.

**1958**: Vanwall
**1959**: Cooper-Climax
**1961**: Ferrari
**1962**: BRM
**1963**: Lotus-Climax
**1964**: Ferrari
**1965**: Lotus-Climax
**1966**: Brabham-Repco
**1967**: Brabham-Repco
**1968**: Lotus-Ford
**1969**: Matra-Ford
**1971**: Tyrrell-Ford
**1972**: Lotus-Ford
**1973**: Lotus-Ford
**1974**: McLaren-Ford
**1975**: Ferrari
**1976**: Ferrari
**1977**: Ferrari
**1978**: Lotus-Ford
**1979**: Ferrari
**1981**: **Williams**-Ford
**1982**: Ferrari
**1983**: Ferrari
**1984**: McLaren-TAG
**1985**: McLaren-TAG
**1986**: **Williams**-Honda
**1987**: **Williams**-Honda
**1988**: McLaren-Honda
**1989**: McLaren-Honda
**1991**: McLaren-Honda
**1992**: McLaren-Ilmor