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159-496: Development of the RB15 marked a big transition due to the switch from Renault to Honda power units. This change required a complete redesign of the car's rear end in order to accommodate the new engine. The Honda engine has a unique design; it has a split turbo system similar to Mercedes . There were also changes to the cooling system, new aerodynamic adjustments such as the wing design, an improves airflow, optimized bargeboards to maximize

318-408: A 25% share in the team and continued as an engine supplier. Red Bull Racing confirmed they would be using Renault engines for 2010 . Robert Kubica was signed as Alonso's replacement on 7 October 2009, but following the shareholding deal, Kubica and his manager Daniel Morelli asked for clarification on the management structure before committing to the outfit. However, in the new year, clarification

477-448: A 5-second penalty for Daniel Ricciardo . Verstappen finished 4th. In Austria , Verstappen qualified 3rd, before being promoted to the front row following a 3-place grid penalty for Lewis Hamilton ; Gasly was 9th for the second weekend in a row. In the race, despite going into anti-stall at the start and falling to 8th, Verstappen came back through to win, to give Honda their first win since 2006 , as well as his first win since Mexico

636-477: A collision with Carlos Sainz Jr. at the first Lesmo corner on Lap 3 which saw Albon run into the gravel. In Singapore , Verstappen and Albon qualified 4th and 6th respectively, and went on to finish in 3rd (Verstappen), and 6th (Albon). In Russia , both cars were due to take 5-place grid penalties for new engine components. Verstappen qualified 4th (so started 9th), whilst Albon crashed in Q1 (he eventually started from

795-574: A disappointing 6th, stuck behind Carlos Sainz's McLaren for most of the race, and ended up being lapped by Verstappen. On 12 August, Red Bull announced that Alexander Albon would be promoted to the team for the remainder of the season, with Gasly taking Albon's seat at Toro Rosso . The change took place with immediate effect starting with the Belgian Grand Prix . In Belgium , Verstappen qualified 5th, with Albon in 14th (he started 17th after grid penalties were applied). Verstappen retired from

954-677: A few miles to a new base in Enstone . Renault continued to use the Benetton constructor name for the 2000 and the 2001 seasons, with the Renault name returning in 2001 as an engine brand. When reporting the purchase the International Herald Tribune commented that "the team will not race under the Renault name until it is ready to win and reap the marketing benefits". It was not until 2002 that this name change occurred. In 2002 , Benetton

1113-462: A light fuel load. However, Alonso was forced to retire early in Hungary due to a fuel pump failure, after a front wheel came loose as it was incorrectly fitted at his first pit stop. At Belgium Alonso again looked like scoring a podium for the team but had to retire with another problem with one of his wheels which was damaged as a result of a first-lap clash with Adrian Sutil . Piquet performed poorly in

1272-540: A more conventional development route. In 2004 , the team were contenders for second place in the Constructors' Championship. Trulli won the Monaco Grand Prix , but his relationship with Renault (particularly with team principal and Trulli's ex-manager Flavio Briatore ) deteriorated after he was consistently off the pace in the latter half of the year, and made claims of favouritism in the team towards Alonso (though

1431-478: A move on Sebastian Vettel on Lap 1 (replicating his result from the previous year ), whilst Gasly finished where he started, in 6th place. In Monaco , Verstappen qualified 3rd, with Gasly 5th (but he took a 3-place grid penalty for impeding Romain Grosjean in Q1, and would therefore start 8th). Verstappen would cross the line in 2nd but was demoted to 4th after a 5-second penalty for an unsafe release, whilst Gasly

1590-620: 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

1749-564: A prelude to the Singapore Grand Prix , in which Alonso profited from the early crash of his teammate (later revealed to be a deliberate crash to aid the Spaniard. See: Renault Formula One crash controversy ) to claim his first victory of the season, and Renault's first since the 2006 Japanese Grand Prix . This victory made Alonso and Renault the first-ever winners of a Formula One race held under floodlights. Renault underlined their return to

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1908-716: 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

2067-455: A row. In Singapore , Petrov was running seventh before being pushed off by Nico Hülkenberg , whilst Kubica was forced to make an unscheduled stop late in the race with a puncture, before going on to recover almost every place he had lost. Rumours had tipped 2007 World Champion Kimi Räikkönen to replace Petrov for 2011 , but the Finn angrily rejected claims he would join the team, stating that he

2226-624: 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

2385-588: 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

2544-411: A sponsorship deal signed with Lotus Cars until 2017. Renault continued to support the team by supplying engines and its expertise and thus Red Bull Racing was promoted to Renault's full-works partnership team. The Renault chassis name continued to be used, with Renault branding featuring in the new black and gold livery that was last used when Renault and Lotus joined forces in the 1980s, harking back to

2703-606: 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

2862-559: A success, and Jabouille qualified 21st out of the 30 runners and 26 starters, 1.62 seconds behind pole sitter James Hunt in the McLaren . Jabouille ran well in the race, running as high as 16th before the car's turbo failed on lap 17. The team missed the German and Austrian Grands Prix as the car was being improved after its British disappointment. They returned for the Dutch Grand Prix , and

3021-419: A team entered three cars for a race). In 1985, major financial problems emerged at Renault and the company could no longer justify the large expenses needed to maintain the racing team's competitiveness. CEO Georges Besse pared down the company's involvement in F1 from full-fledged racing team to engine supplier for the 1986 season before taking it entirely out of F1 at the end of that year. On 16 March 2000,

3180-471: A test driver the previous year. Alonso won the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix , the first time Renault had won a Grand Prix since the 1983 Austrian Grand Prix . Renault was innovative during this period producing non-standard designs such as the 111° 10-cylinder engine for the 2003 RS23 which was designed to effectively lower the centre of gravity of the engine and thus improve the car's handling. This eventually proved too unreliable and heavy, so Renault returned to

3339-411: A time. Albon, meanwhile, got through to Q3, but failed to set a time after getting caught out by every driver moving rather slowly in order to avoid the slipstream effect, and qualified in 8th. In the race, after getting caught behind slow-moving cars at Turn 1, Verstappen damaged his front wing and had to pit at the end of Lap 1 - he eventually finished in 8th. Albon was 6th, despite losing positions after

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3498-569: 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

3657-719: 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

3816-776: 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

3975-559: The 2008 Singapore Grand Prix which Renault teammate Fernando Alonso went on to win. At the time, Piquet Jr. had characterised the incident as a simple mistake. After Piquet Jr. left the Renault team in August 2009, allegations surfaced that this crash had been deliberate, to give an advantage to Alonso. Following a Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) investigation in which Piquet Jr. stated he had been asked by Renault team principal Flavio Briatore and engineer Pat Symonds to stage

4134-515: The 2009 season as "the worst period of my career" and had criticised team boss Flavio Briatore . He was replaced by test driver Romain Grosjean as of the European Grand Prix . After his first podium of the year in Singapore, Fernando Alonso confirmed that he would be leaving Renault, moving to Ferrari in 2010. The ING Renault F1 Team will not dispute the recent allegations made by

4293-472: The 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix , however, this has been overturned on appeal following a decision from the FIA on 17 August 2009. On 4 August, Nelson Piquet Jr. was told by Renault he would not continue driving for them for the rest of the season. "I have received notice from Renault of its intention to stop me from driving for them in the current F1 season", read a statement on Piquet's website. Piquet had described

4452-639: 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

4611-492: 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

4770-551: 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

4929-502: 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

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5088-580: 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

5247-468: 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

5406-543: The Enstone-based Benetton Formula team (formerly Toleman ). Renault became a works engine manufacturer again in 2001, and in 2002 the Enstone-based team was re-branded as Renault. The team won the drivers' and constructors' championships in 2005 and 2006 . By 2011, Renault had sold its shares in the Enstone-based team, though it continued to use the Renault chassis name in 2011. Renault remained in

5565-546: The FIA accused Renault F1 of having McLaren F1 technical information in their possession. According to the charge, the information in hand " included the layout and critical dimensions of the McLaren car as well as details of McLaren's fuelling system, gear assembly, hydraulic control system and suspension ". The hearing on this matter took place in Monaco on 6 December 2007. The charge faced by Renault F1 – breaching of article 151c of

5724-421: The FIA concerning the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix . It also wishes to state that its managing director, Flavio Briatore and its executive director of engineering, Pat Symonds , have left the team. Renault F1 statement, 16 September 2009 During the 2009 season, the actions of Renault F1 during the 2008 season were examined over alleged race-fixing. The issue surrounded Nelson Piquet Jr. 's crash during

5883-579: 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

6042-565: The French Grand Prix , Renault was expected to be faster than Ferrari, but Ferrari again had the advantage. Alonso ran third for most of the race, unable to challenge the Ferraris of Schumacher and Massa. However, a tactical switch to a two-stop strategy enabled him to pass Massa and finish second. On 21 July 2006, the FIA banned the use of mass damper systems, developed and first used by Renault and subsequently used by 7 other teams, including Ferrari. Flavio Briatore claimed that McLaren had raised

6201-532: 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

6360-571: The Hesketh . After this, Renault did not travel to the season finale in Japan. The following year was hardly better, characterised by four consecutive retirements caused by blown engines, but near the end of the year, the team showed signs of success. Twice, the RS01 qualified 3rd on the grid and while finishing was still something of an issue, it managed to finish its first race on the lead lap at Watkins Glen near

6519-544: 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

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6678-591: 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

6837-483: The Monaco Grand Prix , the team paid tribute to Niki Lauda with his image and text reading "Danke Niki" on the sidepods. At the Chinese Grand Prix , they ran with a retro-inspired Esso logo on the rear wing and Mobil logo on the front wing. At the British Grand Prix , the " 007 " logo was featured on the front side and front rear wing, commemorating the 1007th World Championship race. The license plate featured on

6996-661: The R27 , was unveiled on 24 January 2007 in Amsterdam and bore a new yellow, blue, orange and white livery in deference to the corporate colours of ING, the Dutch financial group based in Amsterdam. Renault engines were also supplied to the Red Bull Racing team for the 2007 season. Renault struggled in comparison to their form in previous seasons in Australia , with Giancarlo Fisichella finishing

7155-628: The Renault-Nissan Alliance through the Renault brand purchased Benetton Formula Limited for $ 120 million, to return to Formula One. The history of the team acquired by Renault started in 1981 as the Toleman Motorsport team, based in Witney , Oxfordshire, England. In 1986, the team was renamed to Benetton Formula , following its purchase in 1985 by the Benetton family . In 1992/3 the team moved

7314-465: The San Marino Grand Prix , Renault and Alonso's championship leads came under attack from a fast-but-fragile McLaren - Mercedes team and Kimi Räikkönen respectively for the Drivers' Championship. McLaren took the lead of the Constructors' World Championship by securing a one-two finish at the Brazilian Grand Prix , but that was to be the race in which Alonso secured the Drivers' title, becoming

7473-533: 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

7632-599: The Spanish Grand Prix . The team celebrated its 200th Grand Prix at Silverstone, which was won by Alonso. As the season progressed to its North American stint, Alonso won the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, Canada. At the U.S Grand Prix , Ferrari had a distinct performance advantage over the whole weekend. However, Renault were the fastest of all the Michelin runners. Fisichella finished 3rd, while Alonso finished 5th. At

7791-576: 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

7950-465: The "Shark-fin", similar to the one introduced by Red Bull on their RB4 . Alonso managed to qualify on the front row for that race on a light fuel-load, yet retired with an engine failure halfway through. Alonso's front row qualifying performance in Spain was a rare moment of achievement from the former World Champion. Both cars retired at the Canadian Grand Prix and Nelson Piquet Jr. , who retired from six of

8109-405: 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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8268-492: The 1983 championship. He subsequently joined McLaren , while Cheever left to join Alfa Romeo . The team turned to Frenchman Patrick Tambay (who had left Ferrari) and Englishman Derek Warwick (formerly of Toleman ) to bring them back to prominence. Despite a few good results, including Tambay giving the team its last pole position at the 1984 French Grand Prix at Dijon, the team was not as competitive in 1984 and 1985 as in

8427-402: 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

8586-516: 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

8745-466: 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

8904-457: The 7th race win of his career, and 2nd of the season. Gasly had a miserable race; after dropping a number of places on Lap 1, he was stuck in the midfield for the most part, eventually retiring after a collision with Alex Albon on Lap 62 (after running into the back of the Toro Rosso approaching Turn 7). In Hungary , Verstappen took the first pole position of his F1 career (in turn becoming, at

9063-605: 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

9222-556: 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

9381-505: 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

9540-416: 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

9699-554: 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

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9858-520: 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

10017-513: 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

10176-538: The John Player Special livery of the time. Despite being rebranded to Lotus, Renault still supplied free engines for the Lotus team until 2014. Williams Grand Prix Engineering 51°37′5″N 1°24′46″W  /  51.61806°N 1.41278°W  / 51.61806; -1.41278 Williams Racing , legally known as Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited , is a British Formula One team and constructor. It

10335-462: The Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton at the start and fell behind Albon and the McLarens of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris , before suffering a puncture as a result of contact with Bottas. Both drivers would go on to finish 5th (Albon) and 6th (Verstappen) respectively. At Austin , Verstappen and Albon qualified 3rd and 6th respectively, and went on to finish 3rd (Verstappen) and 5th (Albon). In Brazil , Verstappen took pole and Albon qualified 6th. In

10494-448: The Renault team had won races, it withdrew at the end of 1985 . Renault engines continued to be raced until 1986. Renault returned to Formula One in 1989 as an engine manufacturer. It won five drivers' titles and six constructors' titles between 1992 and 1997 with Williams and Benetton , before ending its works involvement after 1997, though their engines continued to be used without works backing until 2000. In 2000, Renault acquired

10653-452: The Sporting Regulations – was the same as that faced by McLaren earlier on in 2007 in the espionage controversy involving Ferrari & McLaren . The FIA found Renault F1 in breach of article 151c but did not penalise the team. It was announced on 10 December 2007 that Fernando Alonso had signed with Renault F1 for 2008 . Alonso drove alongside promoted test driver Nelson Piquet Jr. and was believed to have secured number one status within

10812-467: The Toyota in the last two races of the 2004 season. Hoping to secure second place in the Constructors' Championship, Renault replaced Trulli with 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve for the final three races. However, Villeneuve – away from F1 racing for almost an entire season and struggling to acclimatise quickly to racing at the premier level – did not impress, and the team finished third behind Villeneuve's former team BAR . Giancarlo Fisichella

10971-448: 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

11130-408: 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

11289-415: The both cars; Verstappen's rear wing was "BMT 216A" (1964 Aston Martin DB5 from Goldfinger ) while for Gasly's rear wing was "B549 WUU" (1977 Aston Martin V8 Vantage from The Living Daylights ). The drivers worn the race suit in likeness of James Bond's suit. A modified RB15 was used during testing of the 2022 tyre compounds after the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix . ( key ) Driver failed to finish

11448-424: The chassis performance. In Australia , the team showed good pace during the free practice sessions. However, Gasly was knocked out in Q1 after a strategy error by the team, while team-mate Verstappen qualified fourth, behind the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel . In the race, Verstappen finished third, giving Honda their first podium finish since 2008 . Gasly recovered from seventeenth to finish eleventh, just outside

11607-446: The closest challenger to the domination of the sport by Ferrari and McLaren. Renault entered the season with high hopes of challenging both world titles. Although Alonso managed four points finishes in the first six races, it was soon clear that this target was unrealistic. By mid-season, it appeared as though Renault were making progress, with Alonso setting the fastest lap in Germany and securing pole position in Hungary , albeit on

11766-529: The crash, on 4 September 2009 Renault were charged with conspiracy and race-fixing and were due to face the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris on 21 September 2009. Initially, Renault and Briatore stated they would take legal action against Piquet Jr. for making false allegations, however, before the meeting, Renault announced they would not contest the charges, and that Briatore and Symonds had left

11925-449: The end of 1978 , giving the team a fourth-place finish and its first Formula One points. The team did not enter the first two races of 1978, in Argentina and Brazil , but returned for the South African Grand Prix at Kyalami . Jabouille secured Renault's best qualifying position to date, with sixth place, just 0.71 seconds behind polesitter Niki Lauda in the Brabham . He dropped out of

12084-502: 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

12243-511: The end of the race was not as great as was seen at Melbourne, with Fisichella finishing only 8th. The team's pace began to pick up in Barcelona, with both drivers making it into Q3, setting competitive lap times in the race (4th fastest lap for Kovalainen) and looking set for 5th and 8th, only to be hampered by an identical problem on both fuel rigs, forcing both drivers to make extra pitstops which dropped them back to 7th and 9th. On 8 November 2007,

12402-555: The end of the year, Jabouille crashed heavily at the Canadian GP and suffered serious leg injuries, which effectively ended his career as a Grand Prix driver. Alain Prost was signed up for 1981 . In his three years with the team, Prost showed the form that would make him a Formula One legend and the Renaults were among the best in Formula One, twice finishing third in the Constructors' Championships and once second. Prost won nine races with

12561-551: The fastest time in Saturday's practice session, followed by 2nd place in qualifying, Kubica finished in 3rd place in Monaco , just 1.6 seconds behind the winner. Petrov retired in the closing laps of the race but was still classified 13th. Vitaly Petrov was out-qualified and out-raced by Robert Kubica at almost every race. However, Petrov did find considerable form at the Hungarian Grand Prix when he out-qualified Kubica for

12720-463: 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

12879-584: 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

13038-458: 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

13197-480: The first half of the season and was replaced by Romain Grosjean for the last third of the season. Neither Piquet nor Grosjean managed to score a point. A podium in Singapore was little consolation in what had been a frustrating and controversial season for the team. Renault had been suspended for one race (the 2009 European Grand Prix) due to the incident involving Fernando Alonso 's wheel not being fitted properly in

13356-519: 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

13515-479: The first nine races, failed to score until the French Grand Prix . The German Grand Prix heralded a change in the team's fortune. Piquet Jr. benefited from the deployment of the safety car to secure Renault's first podium of the year with a second. Both drivers scored at the Hungarian Grand Prix although they failed to pick up anything at Valencia two weeks later. Two fourth places for Alonso in Belgium and Italy were

13674-550: The first time and finished the race 5th. However, in Belgium , Petrov made a mistake that ended with a crash in the first session of qualifying when he explored the kerbs at Liege corner, claiming he was testing to see how wet they were and if they were usable on his flying lap. His failure to set a time placed him 24th on the grid, though a gearbox penalty to Sauber's Pedro de la Rosa promoted him to 23rd. However, he went on to finish ninth, resulting in three consecutive points finishes in

13833-412: 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

13992-494: The front at the subsequent Japanese Grand Prix , in which Alonso steered clear of Lewis Hamilton 's first-corner mistake to record another win. Piquet Jr. finished fourth in the team's best performance of the season. Further double points finish in China was followed by Alonso's second-place finish at the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix . The Renault R28 was believed by many insiders to have overtaken BMW Sauber by season's end as

14151-468: The good pace from Zandvoort seemed to be gone as he once again ran outside the top 10 before retiring with yet another reliability problem, this time the alternator, on lap 31. Jabouille failed to qualify in Canada ; as 27 drivers entered the race, only one would not qualify, and this was Jabouille as he ended up last, over 7.5 seconds behind the fastest qualifier Mario Andretti of Lotus , and almost two seconds behind his nearest rival, Rupert Keegan , in

14310-405: 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

14469-417: 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

14628-537: The issue of the system's legality with the FIA. The system used a spring-mounted mass in the nose cone to reduce the sensitivity of the car to vibration. This was particularly effective in corners and over kerbs to keep the tyres in closer contact to the track surface than they would otherwise be. However race stewards at the German Grand Prix deemed the system legal. The FIA announced its intention to appeal that decision and Renault announced they would not race with

14787-558: The latter his first Q3 appearance this season. In the race, Verstappen finished in fourth, while Gasly finished in sixth place whilst setting the fastest lap to secure an additional point. In Azerbaijan , Verstappen finished fourth, while Gasly retired from the race with a mechanical issue. After the race, Verstappen dropped into fourth in the Drivers' Championship, trailing by a point from third-placed Sebastian Vettel who had 52 points. In Spain , Verstappen and Gasly qualified 4th and 6th respectively. Verstappen went on to finish 3rd after

14946-561: The line. While Jabouille ran into hard times after that race, Arnoux finished second at Silverstone in the following race and then repeated that at the Glen, proving it was not a fluke. Arnoux furthered this in 1980 with consecutive wins in Brazil and South Africa , both on high altitude circuits where the Renaults were dominant. Jabouille continued to have problems with retirements, but in his only points finish he emerged victorious in Austria . At

15105-459: The maximum Research Octane Number of 102 permitted under the Formula One regulations. BMW said that this was incorrect and FISA released a dossier supporting their stance. No action was taken. Prost was fired two days after the 1983 season following his public comments about the team's lack of development of the Renault RE40 which resulted in his loss to Piquet and the team's loss to Ferrari in

15264-423: 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

15423-403: 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

15582-399: The nickname of "Yellow Teapot" and failing to finish any of its races despite being comparatively powerful. The first race the team, under the name Equipe Renault Elf, entered was the 1977 French Grand Prix , the ninth round of the season, but the car was not yet ready. The team's début was delayed until the following round, the British Grand Prix . The car's first qualifying session was not

15741-492: The opening Bahrain Grand Prix as well as the Australian Grand Prix and finished second in Malaysia behind teammate Fisichella to claim Renault's first one-two finish since René Arnoux and Alain Prost in 1982. Alonso took two more second places, and then wins at his home Grand Prix in Spain , and at the Monaco Grand Prix . Fisichella took 8th, 6th and 3rd-place finishes in the San Marino Grand Prix , European Grand Prix and

15900-399: 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

16059-411: 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

16218-454: The past, with other teams doing a better job with turbo engines, or more specifically Lotus and to a lesser extent Ligier . 1985 provided another F1 first, as the team ran a third car in Germany at the new Nürburgring that featured the first in-car camera which could be viewed live by a television audience. Driven by Frenchman François Hesnault , the car only lasted 8 laps before a clutch problem forced it to retire (the last race on which

16377-485: 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

16536-440: The pit lane after he had his floor changed). They went on to finish 4th and 5th respectively. In Japan ( Honda's home race), Verstappen and Albon qualified 5th and 6th respectively (with the pair setting the exact same time; Verstappen qualified in front as he set his time first). Albon finished in 4th (his best F1 result), while Verstappen retired after colliding with Charles Leclerc at Turn 2 on Lap 1 and suffering from damage

16695-779: The pit lane on lap 14, and Kubica finished in eleventh place. Kubica took his first podium with the team, with a second-place finish in Australia . Petrov retired from the race, after spinning off the circuit. Kubica finished the next 3 races in the points, a 4th place in Malaysia , 5th place in Shanghai , and 8th place in Barcelona . Petrov meanwhile scored his first points in Formula 1 in China with his 7th place, it could have been more, but he spun off whilst in fourth, yet he still recovered to bring some points home. After setting fast times on Thursday and

16854-448: The points early in the race before retiring with electrical problems on lap 39. At Long Beach , Jabouille qualified 13th but retired as the turbo failed again on lap 44. He was twelfth in qualifying for the team's first Monaco Grand Prix , and gave the team their first finish in Formula One, finishing in tenth place four laps down on race-winner Tyrrell 's Patrick Depailler . Expanding to two drivers with René Arnoux joining Jabouille,

17013-404: 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

17172-483: 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

17331-492: The points. Team principal Christian Horner praised Gasly for his effort over the radio during the cool-down lap. In Bahrain , Ferrari dominated the timing sheets of the practice sessions. Verstappen qualified in 5th, while Gasly qualified in 13th. In the race, Verstappen narrowly missed out on the podium as he finished in 4th, while Gasly finished in 8th. In China , both Red Bull cars secured third-row lockout with Verstappen and Gasly qualifying 5th and 6th respectively, giving

17490-536: 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

17649-533: 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

17808-417: 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

17967-504: The previous year , and the first non-Mercedes win of 2019. Gasly finished down in 7th and was lapped by Verstappen, putting his Red Bull seat further into question. In Britain , Verstappen qualified 4th, with Gasly 5th. On Lap 37, the Dutchman overtook Sebastian Vettel into Stowe, before being rear-ended by the German; he went on to finish 5th, with Gasly in 4th. (Also, on Lap 12, Red Bull broke

18126-449: The qualifying performance was much improved as Jabouille qualified tenth. He had a poor start but ran as high as sixth before the suspension failed on lap 40. The team's poor qualifying form returned in Italy , as Jabouille qualified 20th. He ran outside the top 10 until his engine failed on lap 24, continuing their awful run of reliability. Things improved at Watkins Glen for the United States Grand Prix as Jabouille qualified 14th, but

18285-563: The race in 5th place. Rookie Heikki Kovalainen struggled even more than the Italian, spinning his car as he chased Toyota's Ralf Schumacher and ending up in 10th place. Results did not improve until the start of the European season, although both drivers finished in the points in the next race at Malaysia . Heikki Kovalainen struggled in Bahrain too, although the gap between himself and Fisichella at

18444-406: The race on the first lap, after colliding with Kimi Räikkönen at La Source (Turn 1) and; following a suspension failure from clipping Räikkönen again, hitting the wall at Radillion (Turn 5). Albon went on to finish 5th on his Red Bull debut. In Italy , Verstappen was due to start at the back of the grid after taking new engine components, but suffered power unit issues in qualifying and didn't set

18603-504: The race, Verstappen took his 3rd win of the season, while Albon had been on course for 2nd until being hit by Lewis Hamilton on the penultimate lap, dropping him to 15th (he would be promoted to 14th after a time penalty for Nico Hülkenberg ). For the season finale in Abu Dhabi , Verstappen qualified 3rd while Albon was 6th again. In the race, Verstappen passed Charles Leclerc late on to finish 2nd, while Albon finished where he started. At

18762-545: The race, but was classified as they had completed over 90% of the winner's race distance. Renault in Formula One Renault , a French automobile manufacturer, has been associated with Formula One as both team owner and engine manufacturer for various periods since 1977. In 1977, the company entered Formula One as a constructor, introducing the turbo engine to Formula One with its EF1 engine. In 1983, Renault began supplying engines to other teams. Although

18921-451: 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

19080-416: The record for the fastest pitstop with Gasly, with 1.91 seconds - this beat the previous time of 1.92 seconds, jointly held by Red Bull and Williams and had stood since 2013). In Germany , the two Red Bulls took advantage of power unit problems for both Ferraris to qualify 3rd (Verstappen) and 4th (Gasly). In a chaotic wet-to-dry race, Verstappen came through to win the race (despite spinning on Lap 27) for

19239-467: 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

19398-419: 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

19557-517: 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

19716-464: The second French constructor (after the triumph of Matra in 1969 ) and the first French-licensed team to win the title. Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella were retained for 2006, while test driver Franck Montagny was replaced by Heikki Kovalainen . The team's 2006 contender, the R26 – featuring a seven-speed gearbox made of titanium , was unveiled at a launch event on 31 January. Alonso won

19875-671: The sport as an engine manufacturer, winning four drivers' and constructors' titles with Red Bull Racing between 2010 and 2013. The company bought the Enstone-based team again in 2016 and re-branded it as Renault. The team did not win in the following five seasons and was re-branded as Alpine in 2021 with the Renault marque remaining as engine manufacturer. As a team owner, Renault has won two constructors' and drivers' championships, while as an engine manufacturer it has 12 constructors' and 11 drivers' championships. It has collected over 160 wins as engine supplier, ranking fourth in Formula One history. Renault's first involvement in Formula One

20034-429: 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

20193-410: 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

20352-535: 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

20511-511: The system for fear of retrospective punishment if the appeal was upheld. Renault's performance at the German Grand Prix was one of their worst of the season; however, the team blamed blistering of their Michelin tyres rather than the loss of the mass damper system. The FIA International Court of Appeal met in Paris on 22 August 2006, to examine the appeal made by the FIA against the decision of the German Grand Prix stewards. The Court ruled that

20670-419: 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

20829-416: 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

20988-601: The team continued to struggle although Jabouille earned a pole position in South Africa . By mid-season, both drivers had a new ground-effect car, the RS10, and at Dijon for the French Grand Prix the team legitimised itself with a brilliant performance in a classic race. The two Renaults were on the front row in qualifying, and pole-sitter Jabouille won the race, the first driver in a turbocharged car to do so, while Arnoux and Gilles Villeneuve were involved in an extremely competitive duel for second, Arnoux narrowly getting beaten to

21147-415: The team deemed too great to continue with on Lap 13. In Mexico , Verstappen took pole, only for a crash for Valtteri Bottas to bring out the yellow flags, forcing all other drivers to slow down. As Verstappen failed to slow down for the yellow flag zone, he received a three-place grid penalty, dropping him to 4th on the grid. Albon, meanwhile, qualified 5th. In the race, Verstappen made slight contact with

21306-534: 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

21465-551: The team, while Arnoux added two more in 1982 . Arnoux left for rival Ferrari after 1982 and was replaced by American Eddie Cheever . In 1983 , Renault and Prost came very close to winning the drivers' title but were edged out by Nelson Piquet ( Brabham - BMW ) at the last race of the season in South Africa . After the end of the season, a rival fuel company said that the fuel used by the Brabham-BMWs in South Africa had exceeded

21624-464: The team. At the meeting, the Council banned Renault from Formula One, but suspended this sanction for two years, meaning Renault would have been thrown out of Formula One if a similar incident occurred before the end of the 2011 season. FIA stated that Renault would have likely been thrown out of Formula One if it had not taken swift action in pushing out Briatore and Symonds. At the same meeting, Briatore

21783-414: The team. The team similarly started in 2008 as the year before; Fernando Alonso managed to garner fourth at the opening Australian Grand Prix as a result of a mistake from a previous Renault employee Heikki Kovalainen. However, the form was still short of 2006 by a large degree over the first half of the 2008 season. The team brought new parts to the Spanish Grand Prix , including a new engine-cover, dubbed

21942-420: The time, the 5th-youngest pole sitter in F1 history, the first Dutchman to take an F1 pole position, and the 100th different polesitter in F1 since 1950), as well as Honda's first pole since 2006 . Gasly was down in 6th. In the race, Red Bull were outdone by Mercedes strategy that saw Lewis Hamilton pass Verstappen on fresher mediums on Lap 67 - the Dutchman still finished 2nd with the fastest lap. Gasly finished

22101-407: The two teammates themselves remained friendly). Commentators regularly point to the French Grand Prix as the final straw for Briatore, where Trulli was overtaken by Rubens Barrichello in the final stages of the last lap, costing Renault a double podium finish at their home Grand Prix. He subsequently announced he was joining Toyota for the following year and in fact left Renault early, driving

22260-643: The use of the device known as a Tuned Mass Damper is an infringement of Article 3.15 of the Formula One Technical Regulations. Points scored in the Brazilian Grand Prix secured the Constructors' Championship for Renault in 2006. On 16 October 2006, Renault announced that the Dutch banking giant ING would replace Mild Seven as title sponsor for three years starting in 2007 . Renault confirmed Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen as their race drivers for 2007 with Nelson Piquet Jr. and Ricardo Zonta as test drivers. The car for 2007,

22419-766: 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

22578-404: The youngest ever driver to do so. This achievement was followed by a win in China to secure the Constructors' World Championship for Renault after McLaren driver Juan Pablo Montoya 's car was badly damaged by a drain cover coming loose on the track. This broke Ferrari 's six-year stranglehold on that title. It was the first time Renault had won the title as a manufacturer, and Renault became only

22737-574: Was 5th (setting the fastest lap in the process). In Canada , Verstappen was caught out by red flags for Kevin Magnussen crashing at the end of Q2 and would only qualify 11th, with Gasly 5th. In the race, Verstappen came back through to finish in 5th, with Gasly falling to 8th. In France , Verstappen qualified 4th with Gasly in a disappointing 9th. The race would be worse for the Frenchman as he fell to 11th, before being promoted back up into 10th following

22896-412: Was Trulli's replacement for the 2005 season. He took advantage of a rain-affected qualifying session to win the first race of the season, the Australian Grand Prix . Fernando Alonso then won the next three races to build a considerable lead in the Drivers' World Championship, thereby doing the same for Renault in the Constructors' Championship. Meanwhile, Fisichella failed to finish several races. After

23055-426: 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

23214-456: 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

23373-447: Was banned from FIA events for life, while Symonds received a five-year ban. The bans on Briatore and Symonds were subsequently overturned by a French court in 2010. FIA, Briatore and Symonds reached a settlement that allowed Briatore and Symonds to return to FIA in 2011 and to Formula One in 2013. In 2010, Renault sold a majority stake in the team to Genii Capital , a Luxembourg based investment company. However Renault still retained

23532-520: 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 the new team ran a March chassis for Patrick Nève . Williams started manufacturing its own cars

23691-417: 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

23850-447: 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

24009-412: 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

24168-624: 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 ,

24327-463: Was made by the Renault Sport subsidiary. Renault entered the last five races of 1977 with Jean-Pierre Jabouille in its only car. The Renault RS01 was well known for its Renault- Gordini V6 1.5 L turbocharged engine , the first regularly used turbo engine in Formula One history. Jabouille's car and engine proved highly unreliable and became something of a joke during its first races, earning

24486-429: 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

24645-409: 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

24804-412: Was rebranded as Renault F1 and contested the season with drivers Jarno Trulli and Jenson Button who scored 23 points during the season. As a result of rebranding, Renault received a French nationality license instead of Italian . Despite outscoring his teammate during 2002, Button was dropped by Renault in 2003 . His replacement was Spain's Fernando Alonso , who had been considered impressive as

24963-589: 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

25122-420: Was sought and Kubica was ready to commit to the outfit. On 31 January, Vitaly Petrov was signed to be Kubica's teammate, becoming Russia 's first Formula One driver. On 5 January, Éric Boullier was announced as the new team principal at Renault, replacing Bob Bell , who would return to his former role as Technical Director. At the opening round in Bahrain , Petrov retired with broken suspension while in

25281-449: Was upset Renault was using his name for their image and that their actions meant he would not race for them. On 5 November 2010, Autosport reported that Renault was poised to scale back its involvement in 2011 and become only an engine supplier, with the team closing in on a tie-up with Lotus Cars to buy its 25% stake in the team. The deal was finalised in early December 2010, with the team to be renamed Lotus Renault GP for 2011, under

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