$faf|1-THE WILLIAMS F1 RACING TEAM $fff By Koffin Blood / Syndicate Country Of Origin: Great Britain ------------------ Date Of Foundation: 1968 ------------------- Active Years In Formula One: From 1973 ---------------------------- Constructors Cup Victories: 1980,1981,1986,1987,1992,1993,1994..... --------------------------- $aff Frank Williams is proof positive that determination will triumph over adversity. An amateur driver of talent, he gave up racing and started buying and selling racing cars. He struck up a great friendship with Piers Courage and ran a Formula One Brabham BT26 for Piers in 1969. A fine second place behind Graham Hill in Monaco attracted the attention of De Tomaso. Williams ran their car in 1970, but he was devastated when Courage was killed at Zandvoort. Williams struggled financially in the early 1970s, running a selection of paying no-hopers. A liaison with Walter Wolf in 1976 turned sour but led to the turning point for Williams, the decision to found WILLIAMS GRAND PRIX ENGINEERING with Patrick Head. Williams invested a lot of time and effort into attracting Saudi Arabian backing and Head"s functional FW06 allowed Australian Alan Jones to turn in some fine performances in 1978. $ffa THE ARRIVAL OF THE FW07 ----------------------- The following year Head came up with the superb ground effects FW07. Clay Ragazzoni scored the teams first Grand Prix win at Silverstone and Jones went on to dominate the second half of the year. In 1980 Alan Jones was teamed with Carlos Reutemann and the duo proved formidable. Jones won 5 times and Reutemann won in Monte Carlo. Alan Jones won the drvers championship and Williams took the constructors crown. Jones narrowly lost out to Nelson Piquet in 1981 and announced his retirement whereupon Williams signed Keke Rosberg. By 1982 turbocharged engines were proving too strong for normally aspirated opposition but Rosberg managed to win the last championship for the Ford Cosworth engine, despite taking just one victory. Williams then forged an alliance with Honda. The V6 turbo was brutal and heavy in it"s early days, but constant development meant by the end of 1985, by which time Nigel Mansell was on board, the Williams-Honda combination was the one to beat. Rosberg left Williams for McLaren at the wrong time and, although Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell were the class of the field in 1986, Prost and Mclaren stole the title in Adelaide when Mansell suffered an exploding tyre with just 18 laps to go. Williams suffered an even bigger blow in March of that year, however, when Frank himself was paralysed in a car accident on the way back from a test at the Paul Ricard circuit in France. In 1987 Nelson Piquet was generally outpaced by team-mate Mansell but used consistency to take his 3rd world title in FW11. Piquet then left for Lotus and Williams lost its Honda engines. $faf The 1988 season was a watershed year with normally aspirated Judds, but a deal with Renault brought Williams back as a major strength although, with Ricardo Patrese and Thierry Boutsen on the books, the team lacked a recognized top-line driver until Mansell returned for 1991 after a 2 year spell at Ferrari. VICTORY FOR WILLIAMS -------------------- Patrick Head"s FW14 was a superb car and Mansell lost out to Senna"s McLaren in 1991 only because of a reliability problems with the semi-automatic gear- box in the early races. By 1992 Williams had mastered active suspension and, with FW14B, Mansell was unbeatable. He won a record 9 races en route to the championship. After a contractual dispute with the team, Mansell left to try his hand on the Indycar circuit. Alain Prost took up where he left off and won the 2nd consecutive drivers and constructors double for the Williams FW15 in 1993. $aaf Frank Williams was the man who first gave Ayrton Senna a Formula One test. He wanted the Brazilian ever since and, in 1994 he got him. Tragically, the great Brazilian died in an FW16 at Imola. Damon Hill then rose in stature and saved a desperately sad year by challenging Michael Schmacher for the drivers title, losing out after a controversial clash in the final round at Adelaide. Williams,though,won the constructors crown again. $fff By Koffin Blood / Syndicate End