Williams Grand Prix Engineering

Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, currently racing in Formula One as Williams Racing, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded by former team owner Frank Williams and automotive engineer Patrick Head. The team was formed in after Frank Williams' earlier unsuccessful F1 operation: Frank Williams Racing Cars (which later became Wolf–Williams Racing in 1976). All of Williams F1 chassis are called "FW" then a number, the FW being the initials of team co-founder and original owner, Frank Williams.

The team's first race was the 1977 Spanish Grand Prix, where the new team ran a March chassis for Patrick Nève. Williams started manufacturing its own cars the following year, and Switzerland's Clay Regazzoni won Williams' first race at the 1979 British Grand Prix. At the 1997 British Grand Prix, Canadian Jacques Villeneuve scored the team's 100th race victory, making Williams one of only four teams in Formula One, alongside Ferrari, fellow British team McLaren, and Mercedes to win 100 races. Williams won nine Constructors' Championships between and . This stood as a record until Ferrari surpassed it in .

Drivers for Williams have included Australia's Alan Jones; Finland's Keke Rosberg; Britain's Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill, David Coulthard and Jenson Button; Colombia's Juan Pablo Montoya; France's Alain Prost; Brazil's Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna; Italy's Riccardo Patrese; and Canada's Jacques Villeneuve. Each of these drivers, with the exception of Senna, Patrese, Coulthard, Montoya and Button, have won one Drivers' title with the team. Of those who have won the championship with Williams, only Jones, Rosberg and Villeneuve actually defended their title while still with the team. Piquet moved to Lotus after winning the championship, Mansell moved to the American-based Indy Cars after winning the championship, Prost retired from racing after his 4th World Championship in , while Hill moved to Arrows after winning in . No driver who has won a drivers' title with Williams has managed to again win a title with another team.

Williams have worked with many engine manufacturers, most successfully with Renault, winning five of their nine Constructors' titles with the French 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 F1 also has business interests beyond Formula One racing. Based in Grove, Oxfordshire, England, Williams has established Williams Advanced Engineering and Williams Hybrid Power which take technology originally developed for Formula One and adapt it for commercial applications. In April 2014, Williams Hybrid Power were sold to GKN. Williams Advanced Engineering had a technology centre in Qatar until it was closed in 2014.

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 their management roles on 6 September 2020, with the 2020 Italian Grand Prix being their last time in their respective positions.

Origins

Frank Williams started the current Williams team in 1977 after his previous outfit, Frank Williams Racing Cars, failed to achieve 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 , the cars were not competitive. Eventually, Williams left the rechristened Walter Wolf Racing and moved to Didcot to rebuild his team as "Williams Grand Prix Engineering". Frank recruited young engineer Patrick Head to work for the team, creating the "Williams–Head" partnership.

Ownership

Reuters reported on 20 November 2009 that Williams and Patrick Head had sold a minority stake in the team to an investment company led by Austrian Toto Wolff who said that it was purely a commercial decision.

In February 2011, Williams F1 announced plans to raise capital through an initial public offering (IPO) on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FWB) in March 2011, with Sir Frank Williams remaining the majority shareholder and team principal after the IPO.

In December 2017 Frank Williams owned 51.3% of the company, with 24.1% on the public marketplace, Brad Hollinger owning 11.7%, Patrick Head 9.3%, and 3.6% is held by an employee trust fund.

In May 2020, Williams was put up for sale after posting a £13 million loss in the previous year.

On 21 August 2020, Williams was acquired by Dorilton Capital. They are intending to continue racing under the Williams name. With the acquisition, Claire Williams was offered the chance to stay on as a team principal but that offer was declined. The 2020 Italian Grand Prix in Monza was the last race where the Williams family led the team.

Racing history – Formula One

Ford-Cosworth engines (1977–1983)

1977 season

Williams entered a custom March 761 for the season. Lone driver Patrick Nève appeared at 11 races that year, starting with the . The new team failed to score a point, achieving a best finish of 7th at the .

1978 season

For the season, Patrick Head designed his first Williams car: the FW06. Williams signed Australian Alan Jones, who had won the 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 where he qualified the lone Williams car in 14th position but retired after 36 laps with a fuel system failure. The team scored its first championship points two rounds later at the when Jones finished fourth. Williams managed their first podium position at the , where the Australian came second, some 20 seconds behind the Ferrari of future Williams driver Carlos Reutemann. Williams ended 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 season

Head designed the FW07 for the season with Frank Dernie picking up the aerodynamic development and skirt design. This was the team's first ground effect car, a technology 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 partnered by Swiss driver Clay Regazzoni. It was not until the seventh round of the championship, the , that they achieved a points-scoring position. Regazzoni came close to taking the team's first win but finished second, less than a second behind race winner Jody Scheckter. The next round at Dijon 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; Jones was fourth with Regazzoni sixth. The team's first win came at the  – their home Grand Prix – when Regazzoni finished almost 25 seconds ahead of anyone else.

Greater successes followed when Williams cars finished first and second at the next round in Hockenheim, Alan Jones two seconds ahead of Regazzoni. Jones then made it three wins in a row at the Österreichring, finishing half a minute ahead of Gilles Villeneuve's Ferrari. Three wins in a row became four wins two weeks later at Zandvoort, Alan Jones winning again by a comfortable margin over Jody Scheckter's Ferrari. Scheckter ended the Williams winning streak when he won Ferrari's home , Regazzoni finishing third behind both Ferraris. Alan Jones managed another win at the penultimate race at Montreal 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 behind Scheckter, while Jones's teammate, Regazzoni, was two places behind him with 32 points.

1980 season

During the 1980 season, Alan Jones partnered with the Argentine Carlos Reutemann. The team started well in the championship, with Jones winning the first round of the season in Argentina. Jones won four more races: Paul Ricard, Brands Hatch, Montreal and the final round at Watkins Glen. 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 season

The duo won four races for the Williams team in the season. Alan Jones won at the first round at Long Beach and the final round at Las Vegas, while Carlos Reutemann won at the second round at Jacarepaguá and the fifth round at Zolder. Williams won the Constructors' title for the second year running, scoring 95 points, 34 points more than second-placed Brabham.

1982 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 Finnish driver, Keke Rosberg, who had not scored a single championship point the previous year. He won the Drivers' title that year despite winning only one race, the at Dijon-Prenois. Rosberg's teammate, Reutemann

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