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86-479: Spirit Racing was a racing car constructor and racing team from the United Kingdom. Founded in 1981, it participated in the 1982 European Formula Two Championship , moved to Formula One in 1983 (staying to the end of the 1985 season), then competing in the 1988 F3000 season before finally folding at the end of that year. In 26 F1 races (including the non-championship 1983 Race of Champions ), its best finish

172-469: A disappointing F1 debut for Shadow in 1980, whereas Boutsen was seen as a star of the future. After a further test at Jacarepaguá , the team made its competitive F1 debut in April 1983, at the non-championship Race of Champions at Brands Hatch . In a field of 13 cars, Johansson set the second-fastest time in free practice, but suffered engine problems in qualifying and started 12th. He then retired early with

258-513: A low profile – much as they had been when they had first entered F1 two decades earlier – and so the team avoided testing at the same time as other F1 teams, while also taking its programme to Willow Springs and Riverside in California. Then, when the decision was made to enter one car into the World Championship, Johansson was chosen as the driver – he was seen as a faded talent having made

344-559: 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

430-650: A punctured radiator following a collision with the Theodore of Roberto Guerrero . Following this, the team resumed its testing programme, with sessions at Silverstone, Brands Hatch and Donington Park , before making its World Championship debut in July at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Driving a further revision of the F2 car, the 201C, Johansson qualified 14th out of 29 cars despite continued engine problems, and ran strongly in

516-771: 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

602-624: 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

688-588: 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

774-606: 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

860-569: 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

946-473: 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

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1032-461: The 101 , but at the same time, Honda were showing concern at the lack of progress and were being courted by Williams , who offered a record of success. Following a disastrous weekend for Spirit at Monza , where the 101 was presented but not driven and Johansson suffered another early retirement, the Japanese company decided to supply its engines to Williams only, and Spirit thus missed the final race of

1118-719: 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

1204-776: 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

1290-639: 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

1376-550: 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

1462-611: 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

1548-442: 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

1634-580: 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

1720-468: 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

1806-579: 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

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1892-532: 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

1978-544: 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

2064-641: 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

2150-533: 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

2236-513: The Spirit 201 chassis with Coppuck, to be powered by a naturally-aspirated 2-litre Honda V6 engine . With sponsorship from Marlboro and capable drivers in Stefan Johansson and Thierry Boutsen , the car was an immediate success, taking pole position in eight of the 13 rounds of the championship, while Boutsen won three times and challenged for the title before losing out in the final round to

2322-576: 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

2408-405: 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

2494-402: 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

2580-516: 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

2666-466: 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

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2752-605: 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

2838-556: 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

2924-505: 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

3010-416: 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

3096-554: 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

3182-520: 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

3268-574: 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

3354-591: The March of Corrado Fabi . Before the F2 championship was over, Honda had built prototypes for a turbocharged Formula One engine. After a dummy unit was sent to Spirit, the team modified one of its 201 chassis to meet F1 regulations, and began a testing programme with the new engine in November 1982 at Silverstone , with plans to join the F1 World Championship midway through the 1983 season. Honda were anxious to keep

3440-601: 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

3526-511: 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

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3612-429: The early stages before retiring with a broken fuel pump . The team then continued in the championship until the penultimate race of the season, the European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch. Johansson tended to qualify ahead of most of the naturally-aspirated cars, and finished seventh at Zandvoort , but mechanical problems continued to blight the car. In the meantime, the team was building its first purpose-designed F1 car,

3698-502: 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

3784-412: 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

3870-584: 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

3956-506: 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

4042-519: 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

4128-405: 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

4214-417: 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

4300-423: 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

4386-403: 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

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4472-511: 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

4558-399: 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

4644-411: 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

4730-485: 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

4816-404: 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

4902-544: 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

4988-536: 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

5074-533: 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

5160-417: 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

5246-451: 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

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5332-515: 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

5418-419: 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

5504-453: The season at Kyalami . Spirit decided to continue in 1984 with Hart turbocharged engines. Initially twice world champion Emerson Fittipaldi and moneyed Italian Fulvio Ballabio were slated to drive. However Fittipaldi left to find a drive in Indy car racing after finding the machine uncompetitive and Ballabio was refused a Super Licence . Instead Mauro Baldi found funds and was nominated as

5590-517: 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

5676-429: The season. The team's best result was 8th place, scored by Baldi on three occasions and Rothengatter once. The 101 chassis (having been progressively upgraded throughout 1984) was updated again for 1985 and Baldi continued to drive. Allen Berg had arranged a deal to take over the seat later in the season. Money was even tighter, however, and after three rounds Wickham decided to take up an offer from Toleman to buy out

5762-429: 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

5848-410: 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

5934-585: 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

6020-470: 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

6106-416: 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

6192-534: 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

6278-567: The team's sole driver, Johansson being released as he could not find the funding to continue. The 101 was a neat but underpowered car and Baldi struggled to move away from the rear of the grid. Jean-Louis Schlesser had planned to take over from the third race before the threat of litigation from RAM (still owed money by the Frenchman) saw Baldi stay until Huub Rothengatter took over. When the Dutchman's money ran out Baldi found enough funds to complete

6364-569: The team's tyre contract and folded the F1 outfit. Wickham initially promised to be back with a new car in 1986 but that never happened. Spirit briefly resurfaced in Formula 3000 in 1988, running Bertrand Gachot , Steve Kempton and Paolo Barilla with some success, but co-founder Wickham left the outfit midway through the season and the team folded at the end of the year. ( key ) (results in bold indicate pole position) ( key ) 1982 European Formula Two Championship Note The Spa race

6450-814: 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

6536-426: 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

6622-456: 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

6708-467: 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

6794-506: 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

6880-412: 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

6966-624: 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 ,

7052-429: 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

7138-409: 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

7224-888: Was originally scheduled over 30 laps, but was abandoned after 23 due to heavy rain. Full points were still awarded. At each race points were awarded as follows: 9 for first place, 6 for second place, 4 for third place, 3 for fourth place, 2 for fifth place and 1 for sixth place. The best nine results could be retained. Discarded points and gross totals are displayed within parentheses. R = retired, R x = retired but classified (placing denoted by x ), NC = not classified, NS = did not start, NQ = did not qualify, NPQ = did not pre-qualify, DIS = disqualified (if after race, placing beforehand displayed alongside in parentheses) 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 ,

7310-449: Was seventh at the 1983 Dutch Grand Prix . Spirit Racing was founded in August 1981 by ex- March employees Gordon Coppuck and John Wickham with backing from Bridgestone and Honda , who were keen to re-enter Formula One as an engine supplier. The initial plan was to participate in the 1982 European Formula Two Championship , and so ex- McLaren designer John Baldwin was hired to produce

7396-589: 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

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