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99-454: The Williams FW28 was the car with which the Williams team competed in the 2006 Formula One season. The drivers were Mark Webber and rookie Nico Rosberg , the reigning GP2 Series champion. Webber was in his second year with the team, and teammate Nico Rosberg carried a hint of nostalgia, as Nico's father Keke had won the 1982 F1 championship in a Cosworth-engined Williams. This

198-538: A Brabham Formula One car for Courage in 1969. This allegedly angered Jack Brabham , as the car had been sold to Williams with the expectation that it would be used in the Tasman Series and then converted to Formula 5000 . Courage in fact had a great year, taking second place at both the Monaco and US Grands Prix. Their efforts attracted the interest of Italian sports car manufacturer De Tomaso , who built

297-669: A Formula One chassis (designed by Giampaolo Dallara ) for the 1970 season. However, the car was initially uncompetitive, failing to finish the first four races of the year. In the fifth, the Dutch Grand Prix , the De Tomaso 505/38 flipped and caught fire, killing Courage. The death of his friend seriously upset Williams; the subsequent distance the team principal placed between himself and his drivers has been attributed to this event. The team soldiered on, however, first with Brian Redman , then with Tim Schenken . With no results,

396-408: A motor-racing enthusiast since a young age, and after a career in saloon cars and Formula Three , backed by Williams's shrewd instincts as a dealer in racing cars and spares, he realised he'd reached his peak as a driver and started entering other drivers, in particular his friend and sometime flatmate Piers Courage . After Williams backed Courage in a successful 1968 Formula Two season, he purchased

495-636: A new record for the most wins by a single driver in one year. Despite this, there looked to be significant upheaval at Williams for 1993; what followed led to a domino effect that had not only effects on the World Championship, but also the CART -sanctioned PPG IndyCar Series . Williams was interested in signing Alain Prost to drive one of its two cars for 1993 as he was returning from his year long sabbatical after being sacked by Scuderia Ferrari during

594-515: A newly built car, and these were renamed Williams FW01, FW02 and FW03 for 1975; separate designations despite the three cars being essentially the same. Merzario and Laffite stayed on for the start of the 1975 season as the team continued to use the FW02 and FW03. Williams decided a new car was needed. The new Williams FW04 was the first chassis to carry the Williams name and it replaced the FW02 at

693-782: A race that season and finished seventh in the Constructors' Championship, scoring 20 points. The highlights of the season for the team were two second-place finishes by Mansell. When Mansell was forced to miss two races due to illness, he was replaced by Martin Brundle for Belgium and Jean-Louis Schlesser for Italy. Schlesser's collision with Ayrton Senna in that race would deny McLaren a clean sweep of race wins that season. The team secured Renault as their engine supplier in 1989. Renault engines subsequently powered Williams's drivers to another four Drivers' and five Constructors' Championships up until Renault's departure from Formula One at

792-645: A second 1–2 after Hill won the French Grand Prix . Villeneuve won his second race in F1 at Silverstone after Hill retired with a wheel bearing failure on lap 26. Hill was victorious in the next Grand Prix in Germany while Villeneuve won the race after that in Hungary . Schumacher's Ferrari would then take the next two Grands Prix at Spa-Francorchamps and Monza . Villeneuve mounted a title challenge going into

891-613: 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

990-620: A step up for the 1992 season, keeping their 1991 driver line-up of Patrese and Mansell . Mansell dominated the first round in South Africa , qualifying in pole position and winning the race by 24 seconds from his teammate, Patrese. Nigel Mansell won the next four rounds for Williams, at Mexico City , Interlagos , Catalunya and Imola , Patrese coming second in all but one (the Spanish Grand Prix at Catalunya, where he retired after spinning off). Mansell's five victories in

1089-427: A technical director (rather than just chief designer), but this was not possible at Williams, as Patrick Head was a founder and shareholder of the team. McLaren lured Newey away, though he was forced to take garden leave for the majority of 1997. Frank Williams Racing Cars#Wolf–Williams Racing (1976) Frank Williams Racing Cars was a British Formula One team and constructor. Frank Williams had been

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1188-582: A type of fuel for which samples had not been provided to the FIA . Thus, Gerhard Berger and Ferrari were declared winners. Schumacher and Coulthard had their positions reinstated after appeal, though Benetton and Williams were not awarded their Constructors' points. Hill won the next two races in Argentina and San Marino and would later win races at The Hungaroring and in Adelaide . Hill won two laps ahead of

1287-477: Is a British Formula One team and constructor. It was founded by Frank Williams (1942–2021) and Patrick Head . The team was formed in 1977 after Frank Williams's earlier unsuccessful F1 operation, Frank Williams Racing Cars (which later became Wolf–Williams Racing in 1976). The team is based in Grove, Oxfordshire , on a 60-acre (24 ha) site. The team's first race was the 1977 Spanish Grand Prix , where

1386-726: The 1991 season. Replacing him was a returning Nigel Mansell , who had spent the previous two seasons driving for Ferrari . Williams also recruited future 1996 world champion, Damon Hill , as their reserve driver. Williams failed to finish the first Grand Prix of the season, the US Grand Prix , with both drivers retiring due to gearbox problems. Patrese got back on track for the team in the next Grand Prix at Interlagos , coming second behind McLaren's Ayrton Senna . The 1991 San Marino Grand Prix saw both cars retiring yet again: with Mansell crashing and Patrese suffering from an electrical failure. The Monaco Grand Prix saw Mansell finish in

1485-776: The 1996 championship. None of Williams's Drivers' Champions went on to win another championship after their success with Williams. Williams have worked with many engine manufacturers, most successfully with Renault , winning five of their nine Constructors' titles with the company. Along with Ferrari , McLaren , Benetton and Renault , Williams is one of a group of five teams that won every Constructors' Championship between 1979 and 2008 and every Drivers' Championship from 1984 to 2008. Williams also has business interests beyond Formula One. They have established Williams Advanced Engineering and Williams Hybrid Power, who take technology originally developed for Formula One and adapt it for commercial applications. In April 2014, Williams Hybrid Power

1584-667: 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

1683-500: 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's winning streak when he won the Italian Grand Prix ; with Regazzoni finishing third behind Scheckter and Villeneuve. Alan Jones managed another win at

1782-652: The Belgian Grand Prix . The Len Bailey -designed Politoys FX3 was a conventional Cosworth-engined car with a Hewland FG400 gearbox. It debuted in the hands of Pescarolo at the British Grand Prix , but the steering failed and the car was heavily damaged. Pescarolo switched back to his March 721 while the Politoys was rebuilt. In its last appearance as the Politoys FX3, Chris Amon drove

1881-564: 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. 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 , the father of 2016 World Champion Nico Rosberg . Rosberg had not scored

1980-442: The British Grand Prix . (In the final round, in Adelaide , the two Williams cars again retired, Mansell after Senna violently crashed into the back of him, and Patrese with electrical problems.) Williams won the Constructors' Championship with 164 points, 65 points more than second-place McLaren. Mansell became World Champion, scoring 108 points, with Patrese finishing second with 56 points. Placing first in nine races, Mansell had set

2079-594: The British Grand Prix . Hill closed the points gap with Schumacher, who was disqualified from first at Spa after the Stewards found floorboard irregularities on his Benetton. He was banned for the next two races, and Hill capitalised on this with wins in Italy and a Williams 1–2 in Portugal . With three races left, 1992 champion Nigel Mansell returned from CART (where the season had concluded) to replace Coulthard for

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2178-473: The Drivers' title with the team. Of those who have won the championship with Williams, only Jones, Rosberg and Villeneuve defended their title while still with the team; as Piquet moved to Lotus after winning the 1987 championship; Mansell left F1 to compete in the CART series after winning the 1992 championship, Prost retired after winning the 1993 championship, and Hill moved to Arrows after winning

2277-598: 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

2376-538: The French Grand Prix , five seconds ahead of Alain Prost 's Ferrari . Mansell then won again at the British Grand Prix ; it had been four years since a Briton had won the Grand Prix, Mansell having won it in 1987 . Three consecutive victories became four when Mansell won again in Germany , with Patrese about 10 seconds behind him in second place. Senna ended Williams's run of victories by winning in Hungary , finishing five seconds ahead of Mansell. Mansell later won

2475-561: The Italian Grand Prix and the Spanish Grand Prix , while Patrese won the Portuguese Grand Prix after Mansell's race was ruined by a botched pitstop in which only three wheel nuts were fitted. Williams finished second in the Constructors' Championship, scoring 125 points in total, 14 points behind McLaren. Mansell finished second in the Drivers' Championship with 72 points, 24 points behind Senna. Williams took

2574-658: The Mexican Grand Prix , the team managed to achieve their first podium with the Renault engine, as Patrese finished second, 15 seconds behind Ayrton Senna in first. The next race saw Patrese finish second again, having started from 14th on the grid, with Boutsen finishing in 6th. At the sixth round in Canada , Williams not only scored their first win with the Renault engine but also their first one-two: with Boutsen finishing in first followed by Patrese in second. This won

2673-539: The South African Grand Prix . Williams finished in third in the Constructors' Championship, scoring 71 points. 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 (259.005 km/h). This was the fastest recorded lap in Formula One history to that point. From 1985 until 1993, Williams ran their famous yellow, blue and white Canon livery. In March 1986, Frank Williams faced

2772-589: The Spanish Grand Prix , and promising British youngster Tony Brise substituted for Laffite, finishing just outside the points in seventh. By this time, however, the team's money problems had become serious, and Merzario left following the Belgian Grand Prix , his place taken for the rest of the season by six different paying drivers – Ian Scheckter , François Migault , Ian Ashley , Jo Vonlanthen , Renzo Zorzi and Lella Lombardi . Northern Ireland's Damien Magee , meanwhile, substituted for Laffite in Sweden. Around

2871-597: 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. Head designed

2970-462: The 1974 season, leaving Williams with financial problems. The two IR chassis were retained, now re-designated the FW after Frank Williams, but initially only a single car was entered for Arturo Merzario , who had replaced Ganley as the team's number one driver. There was an early-season boost as Merzario placed sixth in the third race of the season in South Africa , but when the second car was reintroduced,

3069-405: The 1980s. In the 1990 season, Williams kept Patrese and Boutsen as the team's drivers. The team scored 20 fewer points than the previous year and finished fourth in the Constructors' Championship two positions lower than in 1989. In the Drivers' Championship, Boutsen finished sixth with 34 points and Patrese in seventh with 23 points. Boutsen left Williams and joined Ligier at the start of

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3168-402: The 1991 World Championship. Patrese, perhaps figuring that he would be the driver being sacked in order for Prost to take one of the two available rides, decided to leave after driving for Williams since 1987. He would join up with Benetton, where he would replace Martin Brundle alongside Michael Schumacher in the team's Camel -backed Fords. Mansell, meanwhile, was not pleased that Williams

3267-520: The 1992 season, to join Prost in the other Renault. The Williams FW15C was an extremely dominant car, with active suspension and traction control systems beyond anything available to the other teams. Prost won on his debut for the team in South Africa and, like Mansell, dominated the weekend, taking pole position and finishing a minute ahead of Senna , who was second. The next Grand Prix in Brazil saw Prost collide with Christian Fittipaldi's Minardi in

3366-470: The 1993 championship and subsequent retirement. Hill retained the number 0, while Senna's car was issued number 2. Pre-season testing showed the FW16 had speed but was difficult to drive. The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) had banned electronic driver's aids, such as active suspension , traction control and ABS , to make the sport more "human". It was these technological advancements that

3465-626: 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. The 1987 season brought the Williams-Honda partnership its first and only Drivers' Championship title in

3564-560: The Constructors' Championship that year, 16 points behind first-place Ferrari . 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

3663-513: The Constructors' Championship, scoring 36 points. Also, Rosberg won that year's Monaco Grand Prix . 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

3762-416: The Drivers' Championship with 91 points. In 1995 , Nigel Mansell was not retained, Williams favouring Coulthard over him to partner Hill . Schumacher , whose Benetton team had switched engine suppliers from Ford to Renault in the off-season, won the first round in Brazil , with Coulthard taking second. However, both were disqualified from the race after it was found that Elf supplied their teams with

3861-577: 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 . 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

3960-531: The Drivers' Championship, 33 points behind Benetton's Michael Schumacher. For 1996 , Williams had the quickest and most reliable car, the FW18 . Coulthard had left Williams to join Mika Häkkinen at McLaren, and Williams replaced him with Canadian Jacques Villeneuve , who had won the CART series title in 1995, while Hill remained with the team. Schumacher left Benetton to join Ferrari . Williams won

4059-592: The Drivers' Championship. 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

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4158-577: The FW28 in all aspects except for being powered by Toyota's 2006 engine, the RVX-06. During winter practice, the team also experimented with new front wings and other aerodynamic parts which helped the development of their new car FW29 car. ( key ) (results in italics indicate fastest lap) [REDACTED] Media related to Williams FW28 at Wikimedia Commons WilliamsF1 Williams Racing , legally known as Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited ,

4257-561: The Williams chassis of the previous years had been built around. With their removal in 1994, Williams had not been a good-handling car, as observed by other F1 drivers, having been seen to be very loose at the rear. Senna himself had made numerous comments that the Williams FW16 had quirks that needed to be ironed out. It was obvious that the FW16, after the regulation changes banning active suspension and traction control, exhibited none of

4356-515: The Williams–Head partnership. 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 . For the 1978 season, Patrick Head designed the first Williams car: the FW06. Williams signed Alan Jones , who had won

4455-654: The assets of the Hesketh team that had recently withdrawn from F1. The team was based in the Williams facility at Reading but used most of the cars and equipment once owned by Hesketh Racing. The team inherited the Hesketh 308C car used by Hesketh Racing during the final races of 1975, rebranding it as the Wolf–Williams FW05 and the Williams FW04 was similarly rebranded as the Wolf–Williams FW04, although it

4554-414: The car for the team in the end of season non-Championship 1972 World Championship Victory Race at Brands Hatch , but qualified only 20th and retired with engine failure. Motul and Politoys both withdrew their backing at the end of 1972, but Williams managed to attract backing from cigarette giant Marlboro and Italian sports car manufacturer Iso Autoveicoli S.p.A. for the 1973 season. The Politoys FX3

4653-508: The end of 1997. The team brought in Adrian Newey to replace Frank Dernie . The combination of Renault's powerful engine and Adrian Newey 's designing expertise led to the team dominating the sport in the mid-1990s alongside McLaren. Mansell had a record-breaking 1992 season, winning the title in record time and leading numerous races from pole to finish. The Renault era started in 1989 , with Riccardo Patrese and Thierry Boutsen at

4752-412: The field at Adelaide in one of F1's most dominating victories. Coulthard recorded his only 1995 win for the Williams team at Estoril , before moving to McLaren. Williams's champion streak was ended by Benetton , who elected to switch engine suppliers from Ford to Renault, the same as Williams. As such, Benetton outscored Williams by 29 points in the Constructors' Championship. Damon Hill placed second in

4851-584: The final race of the season at Japan , but Hill reasserted his dominance to take the race and the 1996 title, while Villeneuve lost a wheel and retired. Williams's dominance was such that they had clinched the Constructors' Championship and only their drivers had a mathematical chance of taking the title, several races before the season concluded. Around that time, Frank Williams announced that Hill would not be re-signed after his contract expired, despite Hill's successes and eventual Drivers' Championship, so he joined Arrows for 1997. Adrian Newey had ambitions as

4950-462: The first five Grands Prix, Hill winning all but one of them. Olivier Panis would take victory at the sixth round in Monaco after both Williams cars retired. Hill would retire for the second time in a row after he spun-off in Spain , while his teammate, Villeneuve, took third place. Hill and Villeneuve dominated the next Grand Prix in Canada , with a 1–2 in qualifying and a 1–2 finish. Williams made it

5049-533: The first lap. Since Senna's death, every Williams F1 car has carried a Senna 's' on its livery in his honour and to symbolise the team's ongoing support of the Instituto Ayrton Senna , but cars from 2022 onwards will not have the Senna S, with CEO Capito stating it was time to "move on". At the next race in Spain , Williams brought in test driver David Coulthard as Hill's new teammate. Hill took

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5148-405: The hands of Nelson Piquet . Piquet won three races and scored 73 points in the Drivers' Championship. His teammate Mansell came in second place with six victories and 61 points. Williams won the Constructors' Championship for the second year in a row, scoring 137 points, 61 points ahead of their nearest rivals, McLaren. Despite this success, Honda ended their partnership with Williams at the end of

5247-417: The helm of the two Williams cars. Boutsen replaced Mansell, who had signed a contract with Ferrari. The engine's first Grand Prix in Brazil was one that the team would prefer to forget: Boutsen retired with an engine failure and Patrese with an alternator failure. Williams managed to get back on track with Boutsen finishing in fourth at the next race in Italy ; winning the team three points. Two races later at

5346-628: The last non-championship AGP was held in 1984 . Williams finished eighth in the Constructors' Championship - the team's lowest finish since its inaugural season in 1978 . Unhappy by the team's reliability problems, Webber departed the team at the end of the season to join Red Bull Racing . Williams went into the 2006 season with renewed major sponsorships such as Allianz , RBS , FedEx , Reuters , Oris , Hamleys , Budweiser , Petrobras and Castrol . The team received new sponsorships such as Mobilecast and Tata Group while Hewlett-Packard

5445-423: 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

5544-403: The new engine supplier, Senna approached Williams and offered to take over the second car. His interest was such that he was willing to drive for Williams while collecting no salary. However, like with Mansell, Prost had a rather testy relationship with Senna from when the two were teammates and rivals at McLaren in the 1980s. As such, he negotiated a two-year contract with Williams that gave him

5643-511: The new team ran a March chassis for Patrick Nève . Williams started manufacturing its own cars the following year, and Clay Regazzoni won Williams's first race at the 1979 British Grand Prix . At the 1997 British Grand Prix , Jacques Villeneuve scored the team's 100th race victory, making Williams one of only five teams in Formula One, alongside Ferrari , McLaren , Mercedes , and Red Bull Racing to win 100 races. Williams won nine Constructors' Championships between 1980 and 1997 . This

5742-399: The opening five races was a new record in Formula One. Senna won the next race in Monaco , ahead of both Williams cars, which finished second and third. In the next race, in Canada , both Williams cars retired: Mansell spun off on entering the final corner (he claimed that Senna pushed him off) and Patrese had a gearbox failure. Mansell went on to record four more Grand Prix wins, including at

5841-504: The outfit ticking over with fourth place at the British Grand Prix and sixth in Austria . French oil company Motul came on board for the 1972 season, enabling Williams to buy a new March 721 for Pescarolo, while backing from Italian toy manufacturer Politoys provided money to build an in-house chassis. From the (non-Championship) Brazilian Grand Prix , Carlos Pace was entered in the previous year's March 711, later taking fifth at

5940-411: The outside wall at the 5th corner (out of sight of Hill). As Schumacher recovered, Hill came around the corner and attempted to overtake into the next corner. Schumacher turned in and the resulting contact (Schumacher in the wall and Hill retiring with bent suspension), meant Schumacher was the champion. This collision has been controversial. Some, such as Williams's Patrick Head , have suggested that this

6039-431: The partnership with De Tomaso was dissolved. For 1971, Williams purchased a year-old March 701, and ran Frenchman Henri Pescarolo . The team later upgraded to a new March 711, but results were difficult to come by. The old car was also entered for Max Jean at the French Grand Prix . After the success of 1969, Williams was now low on funds, living a hand-to-mouth existence from race to race. Pescarolo did, however, keep

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6138-490: 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. Before

6237-404: 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

6336-557: The points, coming in second. At the next race, the Canadian Grand Prix , Williams locked out the front row only for Patrese to drop back with gearbox problems and Mansell to retire from the lead on the final lap due to an electrical fault. At the following race in Mexico , Williams achieved a 1–2 finish, with Patrese finishing in first and Mansell finishing in second. Williams then ran a streak of victories, with Mansell winning

6435-546: The points. Williams retained their Constructors' title, 84 points ahead of second-placed McLaren. Prost clinched the Drivers' Championship in Portugal and finished the season 26 points ahead of second-placed Senna. Based on his victory in the 1992 World Championship, Mansell would have been issued car number 1 for the 1993 season, and his teammate issued number 2. However, Mansell's move to the IndyCar series meant that number 1

6534-533: The power to approve or disapprove any driver Williams would seek to have him team with for 1993. Once the contract was signed, Prost used that power to freeze Senna out of driving for Williams; he would return to McLaren for one more season with the team running Ford engines. Needing a replacement, Williams decided not to pursue any of the available drivers such as Berger and Brundle. Instead, they chose to promote former Brabham driver Damon Hill , who had been their test driver since Brabham collapsed and folded during

6633-417: The previous two World Championships with vastly superior cars, Senna was a natural and presumptive pre-season title favourite, with second-year driver Damon Hill intended to play the supporting role. Between them, Prost, Senna, and Hill had won every race in 1993 but one, which was taken by Benetton's Michael Schumacher . As with 1993, Williams's cars were issued numbers 0 and 2, following Prost's victory in

6732-455: The rain on lap 29, while Hill went on to his first podium finish: second, 16 seconds behind Senna. Prost won three of the next four Grands Prix for Williams, Senna winning the other race. Prost and Hill later scored a 1–2 in France : the only 1–2 of the season for Williams. Prost won the next two Grands Prix at Silverstone and Hockenheim . Hill proved competitive especially in the second half of

6831-523: The remainder of the season. Mansell would get approximately £900,000 per race , while Hill was paid £300,000 for the entire season, though Hill remained as lead driver. Schumacher came back after his suspension for the European Grand Prix , which he won by about 25 seconds, to take a lead of 5 points into the penultimate round in Japan . The race in Japan was held in torrential rain, with Hill managing to win

6930-466: The rest of the 1973 season. Ganley was the only regular driver and he scored a point with the car at the Canadian Grand Prix towards the end of the season. Of the other drivers; Galli, Pescarolo, Tom Belsø , Graham McRae , Gijs van Lennep , Tim Schenken and Jacky Ickx , only van Lennep was able to score a point, at his home race in the Netherlands . Both Iso Rivolta and Marlboro left before

7029-419: The restarted race, by three seconds on aggregate over Schumacher who finished second. Going into the final round at Adelaide , Schumacher led Hill by a single point. Mansell took pole for Williams but had a poor start which let Hill and Schumacher through to fight for the lead and the 1994 title. Midway through the race, Schumacher's perceived need for a low downforce setup cost him, as he lost control and clipped

7128-520: The same time, Frank Williams signed a young engineer, Patrick Head who would partner with his boss when the team reformed as Williams Grand Prix Engineering in 1977. A major shock came in Germany when a mixture of attrition and tenacious driving saw Laffite take the FW04 to second place behind the Brabham of Carlos Reutemann , bringing much-needed financial aid to a team on the point of collapse. This

7227-434: The season went downhill from there. Exceptions were Australia and Monaco , both races where Webber looked a contender for at least a podium finish until retiring on both occasions with hydraulics failure and an exhaust fire respectively. A note of significance for Webber and Williams came on lap 21 of the 2006 Australian Grand Prix . By leading the lap Webber became the first Australian to have led his home grand prix since

7326-522: The season. Mechanical problems cost Hill leads in Britain and Germany, but he went on to win the next three Grands Prix at Hungary , Belgium and Italy which moved him to second in the standings, as well as giving him a chance of taking the Drivers' title. After Italy, Williams would not win a Grand Prix for the rest of the season, as a young Michael Schumacher won the following race in Portugal , and Senna took Japan and Australia to overtake Hill in

7425-429: 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

7524-452: The string of paydrivers employed to drive it produced little in the way of results. After three non-qualifications, Jacques Laffite was brought in to partner Merzario and performances gradually improved, culminating in a fourth-place finish for Merzario in Italy . This gave the team a total of four points, and another tenth-place finish in the Constructors' Championship. Three Iso–Marlboro FW chassis were ultimately used during 1974, including

7623-410: The success he desired. Despite the promise of a new owner, Canadian millionaire Walter Wolf , and the team's rebranding as Wolf–Williams Racing in 1976 , the cars still were not competitive. Eventually, Williams left the rechristened Walter Wolf Racing and moved to Didcot, Oxfordshire to rebuild his team as Williams Grand Prix Engineering. Frank recruited Patrick Head to work for the team, creating

7722-598: The superiority of the FW15C and Williams FW14 B cars that had preceded it. The surprise of testing was Benetton - Ford which was less powerful but more nimble than the Williams. The first four rounds were won by Michael Schumacher in the Benetton - Ford . Senna took pole in the first two races but failed to finish either of them. In the third race, the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix in Imola, Senna again took pole position, but

7821-475: The team 15 points. Williams came second in the Constructors' Championship, scoring 77 points, 64 points behind McLaren. Patrese finished 3rd in the Drivers' Championship with 40 points, 41 points behind second-placed Alain Prost . Boutsen finished 5th in the championship with 37 points after also winning in Australia . Boutsen's win gave Williams the distinction of having won both the first and last Grand Prix of

7920-416: The team Williams signed a contract with tobacco company Rothmans International for 1994 , and their namesake brand became its primary sponsor from 1994 to 1997 . Despite Prost's continued unwillingness to have his former McLaren teammate run with him, pressure from various sources including the team's new sponsor led Williams to agree to terms with Ayrton Senna for 1994. The veto power in Prost's contract

8019-534: The team's first victory of the season, by almost half a minute over Schumacher's Benetton , while Coulthard would retire due to an electrical problem. In Montreal , both Williams cars finished in the points for the first time that season, with Hill finishing second and Coulthard finishing fifth. In France, Nigel Mansell replaced Coulthard (in the first of four appearances), at the behest of Renault. At Silverstone, Damon Hill accomplished what had eluded his father, twice Formula One World Champion Graham Hill , by winning

8118-830: The year in favour of McLaren. Unable to make a deal with another major engine manufacturer, Williams used naturally aspirated Judd engines for the 1988 season. This left them with a significant performance deficit compared with their turbo-powered rivals. Piquet left Williams 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 Riccardo Patrese to replace Piquet. The team did not win

8217-426: Was a deliberate attempt by Schumacher to take Hill out of the race. Others, such as then BBC commentator Murray Walker, defended Schumacher, calling the accident a "racing incident". Meanwhile, Nigel Mansell won the last Grand Prix of his career here, driving the second Williams car. Williams would end the season as Constructors' Champion for the third consecutive year, scoring 118 points, while Hill finished second in

8316-456: Was a record until Ferrari won its tenth championship in 2000 . Notable drivers for Williams include: Alan Jones , Keke Rosberg , Nigel Mansell , Damon Hill , David Coulthard , Jenson Button , Juan Pablo Montoya , Alain Prost , Nelson Piquet , Ayrton Senna , Riccardo Patrese , Valtteri Bottas , Carlos Reutemann , Felipe Massa and Jacques Villeneuve . Of these drivers, Jones, Rosberg, Mansell, Hill, Piquet, Prost, and Villeneuve won

8415-492: Was compromised by poor reliability - an embarrassment for a team that prided itself on engineering excellence. The car seemed competitive at the beginning of the year when the cars scored a double points finish with Rosberg setting the fastest lap of the race on his F1 début at the Bahrain Grand Prix . An excellent second-row qualifying performance at Sepang was wasted when both cars suffered engine failures, and

8514-456: Was discontinued. While it retained the dark blue on white scheme, the stylized "kidney grille" was gone from the nose with the loss of BMW as engine supplier. The Williams FW28B is an interim version of the FW28 the team used to prepare for the 2007 season. After an obviously disappointing 2006, Williams decided to opt for Toyota engines for 2007 and therefore built the FW28B. The car is similar to

8613-472: Was involved in a fatal crash at the second corner after completing six laps. The repercussions of Senna's fatal accident were severe for the team itself, as the Italian prosecutors tried to charge the team and Frank Williams with manslaughter, an episode which was not over until 2005. At the next race in Monaco , Damon Hill was the only Williams on the grid, as a mark of respect to Senna, and retired on

8712-514: 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

8811-412: Was leaving CART to replace Berger at McLaren. McLaren also was potentially dealing with losing a driver, as Ayrton Senna's contract had expired following the 1992 season. In addition to this, McLaren's arrangement with Honda to provide engines had also expired, and the team had signed to run Ford engines for 1993. With McLaren having fallen behind Williams on the grid, combined with his uncertainty regarding

8910-629: Was looking to bring Prost aboard. Prost and Gerhard Berger had essentially swapped rides after the 1989 season with Prost becoming Mansell's teammate at Ferrari. The acrimonious relationship between the two that ensued nearly resulted in Mansell retiring from the sport altogether and he had not forgotten this; as such, Mansell began looking for other options to continue his racing career. He eventually decided to move over to CART, where he paired with Mario Andretti at Newman/Haas Racing . That seat, meanwhile, had opened up because Andretti's son, Michael ,

9009-429: Was not issued; instead, the team was issued the number 0, which was placed on Hill's car, while Prost was issued number 2. 1993 marked the final season that Williams ran with Canon as its primary backer. During the 1994 season, Williams used FW16 (developed during the pre-season) and FW16B (with shorter sidepods and optimised for the revised floor regulations which were introduced during the season). After Canon left

9108-409: Was only in effect for the 1993 season, and since Williams was now free to do as it desired and that Senna was again a free agent, the team decided it would bring in the multi-time former champion. To appease Prost, who decided to retire from racing permanently after Senna's signing, Williams agreed to pay him his full salary for the second half of the contract. Given this was the same team that had won

9207-409: Was only used in the opening race of the season, the 1976 Brazilian Grand Prix . At season's end, Wolf decided to restructure the team, removing Frank Williams from the manager's job and putting in former Team Lotus manager Peter Warr . Disillusioned, Williams left the team altogether, to set up Williams Grand Prix Engineering with Patrick Head in 1977. Wolf bought 100% of Wolf–Williams Racing and

9306-534: Was raced in two non-Championship races at this time; at the 1973 Race of Champions , Tony Trimmer raced an FX3B to fourth place while Ganley retired his car with handling problems. The New Zealander also retired at the FX3B's last race, the 1973 BRDC International Trophy , this time with low oil pressure. Introduced at the 1973 Spanish Grand Prix , the Iso–Marlboro IR was driven by eight different drivers during

9405-540: Was reworked as the Iso–Marlboro FX3B and a second car was built. Two new drivers were signed, New Zealand's Howden Ganley and Italy's Nanni Galli . At the first race in Argentina , Galli qualified 16th with Ganley 19th and last on the grid. Galli's engine failed on the first lap, but Ganley finished the race, although he was not classified due to being 17 laps adrift of the winner. The team fared better in Brazil with Ganley finishing seventh and Galli ninth. Galli

9504-589: Was sold to GKN . In May 2020, Williams announced they were seeking buyers for a portion of the team due to poor financial performance in 2019 and that they had terminated the contract of title sponsor ROKiT. On 21 August 2020, Williams was acquired by Dorilton Capital. Frank and Claire Williams stepped down from being Manager and Deputy Manager of the team on 6 September 2020, with the 2020 Italian Grand Prix being their last time in their respective positions. Frank Williams founded Williams in 1977 after his previous team, Frank Williams Racing Cars , failed to achieve

9603-666: Was the first V8-powered Williams car since the FW12 in 1988 and also the first Williams car ran on Bridgestone tyres since the FW22 in 2000. 2006 was very disappointing for the team. The car was dogged by a handling problem which affected the cars on the entry to corners. Despite the effectiveness of the Cosworth engine, the Bridgestone tyres and the two drivers, the FW28 could only display brief flashes of promise. Too often this promise

9702-401: Was then injured testing a sports car and replaced for the following race in South Africa by local driver Jackie Pretorius . Pretorius retired his FX3B at half-distance with overheating problems, but Ganley managed tenth, albeit six laps down. The FX3B had become obsolete by this time due to new deformable structure regulations and was replaced by the new Iso–Marlboro IR . However, the FX3B

9801-454: Was to be the team's only points finish of the season, but they improved their position in the Constructors' Championship by one place, to ninth. Before the start of the 1976 season, Canadian oil millionaire Walter Wolf bought 60% of Frank Williams Racing Cars and the team became Wolf–Williams Racing. However, Frank Williams was retained as team manager. Soon afterwards, Harvey Postlethwaite arrived as chief engineer. Simultaneously Wolf bought

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