WilliamsF1

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WilliamsF1, formerly Williams Grand Prix Engineering, is a Formula One racing team formed and run by Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head.

Williams founded the team as it currently stands in 1977 after two unsuccessful attempts at managing Formula One teams of the same name. The team has been highly successful throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Due to this, Williams is considered a member of F1's "Big Three" (the other two being Ferrari and McLaren). Williams has won nine Constructors' Championships compared with its seven Drivers' Championships. The team famously places more significance on the Constructors' Championship than the Drivers' Championship.

1 Founding and early years
2 Dominance with Renault
3 Struggle with BMW
4 2006
5 Other Motorpsort
6 Reference
7 External link

Founding and early years

Frank Williams had been running various operations in Formula 1 prior to creating his own team in 1977 (see Frank Williams Racing Cars and Walter Wolf Racing). After meeting Patrick Head, the two formed what was then called Williams Grand Prix Engineering, now BMW.WilliamsF1. The team debuted in the 1977 Spanish Grand Prix, fielding a March 761 for Patrick Neve, and contested most of the European and North Ameican rounds that year. In 1978 Head designed the team's first car, the FW06, and in the following year, now with the ground effect FW07, had their first victory at the British Grand Prix with Clay Regazzoni, with teammate Alan Jones claiming the victory in the following three races. Their first FIA Formula 1 World Drivers' Championship came in 1980 through Jones. 1981 saw the team lose the title because of inner strife between Jones and his teammate Carlos Reutemann, but in the 1982 Keke Rosberg captured the title with a single win, in a season that saw 11 different drivers score victories.

Initially the team began with the ubiquitous Ford-Cosworth DFV engine until the second half of the 1983 season, when the team secured the support of Honda Motor Corporation, dominating the sport in 1986 season and 1987 season, securing both Constructors Championships, but failing to claim the Drivers Champion in 1986, after Nigel Mansell suffered a tyre blowout in the final stages of the Australian Grand Prix. However, Nelson Piquet made up for Mansell's bad luck by winning the title the following year. A contractual dispute with Honda (related primarily to the selection of drivers) saw the team lose the Japanese engines, and the team made do with the uncompetitive Judd engines for 1988 season.

Dominance with Renault

The team secured engine supply from Renault Sport in 1989. Renault engines subsequently powered Williams drivers to another four Drivers' Championships and five Constructors' Championships up until Renault's departure from Formula One at the end of 1997. The combination of Renault's powerful engine and Adrian Newey's design expertise led to a particularly dominant period in the mid 1990s. Mansell had a record breaking 1992 season winning the title in record time and leading many races from pole to finish.

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The 1992 FW-14B

Some maintain that the Williams FW-14B and FW-15C were "the most technologically advanced cars that will ever race in Formula One".[1]

He was replaced by the Renault-friendly Alain Prost who retained both titles again winning pole position for many races. Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve were able to win the World Drivers' Championship in 1996 and 1997 respectively, although neither driver is now regarded as being amongst the truly great World Champions.

It was during this period of dominance that the team's worst disaster also occurred. In 1994, on the weekend of the San Marino Grand Prix, the third round of that year's Championship, three times World Champion Ayrton Senna suffered a fatal accident during the race, in only his third race for the team. The repercussions of this fatal accident were severe for the team itself, as the Italian government tried to prosecute the team and Frank Williams through the Italian courts, an episode which wasn't over until 2005.

After 1997, the team were unable to maintain their dominance in Formula 1 as Renault ended their full time involvement in Formula 1, and Adrian Newey moved to rival team McLaren. Williams then had to pay for Mecachrome engines (old, rebadged Renaults). From 1994 to 1997 the cars ran in the highly distinctive blue and white Rothmans livery, widely regarded as one of F1's most popular colour schemes. There were changes on the sponsorship front however as Rothmans opted to promote their Winfield brand. For 1998 and 1999 the cars were an unfamiliar red and white colour. They were also on an unfamiliar position on the racetrack, as they struggled to keep up with the competition following the departure of Renault and Newey.

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Ralf Schumacher driving for the WilliamsF1 team at the 2003 United States Grand Prix

Struggle with BMW

In 1998, the team signed a long term agreement with BMW, with BMW supplying engines and expertise for a period of 10 years. As part of the deal BMW expected at least one driver to be German and Ralf Schumacher was signed. Williams sought the services of Juan Pablo Montoya as a proven racer for the 2000 season but he was initially unavailable and Jenson Button made his debut. In 1999, the team had a Williams car with a BMW engine testing at circuits, in preparation for a debut in 2000. In 2001 Button was replaced by Montoya. The BMW.WilliamsF1 relationship has resulted in 10 race victories in five years, the most recent being Juan Pablo Montoya's victory at the 2004 Brazilian GP at Interlagos.

Montoya set the pace for the team during his three seasons and was in contention for the Driver's Championship for most of the 2003 season. At the start of the 2004 season it was announced that Montoya would be moving to McLaren in 2005. The team began the season with a radical design of car that proved un-competitive and was replaced by a modified version of the 2003 car.

For the 2005 season, Schumacher and Montoya moved to Toyota and McLaren respectively. Taking their places were Mark Webber and Nick Heidfeld. Initially Jenson Button was to have driven for Williams in 2005, but an FIA ruling forced Button to remain with his current team BAR. Nick Heidfeld competed with Brazillian test driver Antonio Pizzonia for the remaining racing seat during December 2004 and January 2005, and Heidfeld was chosen, partly in deference to BMW's wishes for a German driver. Pizzonia served as the test driver for the team during the 2005 season. Meanwhile, Button signed a contract to drive for Williams in 2006.

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BMW.WilliamsF1 Team participated in a demonstration in London's Regent Street prior to the 2004 British Grand Prix.

During the course of the 2004 and 2005 F1 seasons, BMW Motorsport and director Mario Theissen increasingly became publicly critical of the WilliamsF1 team's inability to create a package capable of winning the constructors championship, or even multiple victories within a single season. Williams, on the other hand, blamed BMW for not producing a good enough engine. Williams' failed attempt to prize Jenson Button out of his BAR contract may also have been an issue with Theissen, as his preference was to have at least one German driver in the team. Despite Frank Williams' rare decision to cave in to commercial demands by employing German driver Nick Heidfeld when he allegedly preferred Antonio Pizzonia, the fallout between BMW and Williams continued through the 2005 Formula One season. This public deterioration of the relationship between BMW and WilliamsF1 eventually resulted in the decision by BMW Motorsport to buy Sauber and rebrand that team to feature the BMW name.

Williams could have opted to continue with BMW engines in 2006, despite the fact that the engine manufacturer was about to set up its own team. In the end, though, WilliamsF1 opted for Cosworth V8 engines for 2006.

This period saw Williams depart from the standard livery scheme in motorsport, which consists of one colour scheme (either the teams' or the major sponsors') with smaller logos in their own scheme. BMW stipulated that (and paid for) the whole vehicle to be in blue and white, with other sponsors adopting this scheme. Also in 2000, Williams abandoned tobacco advertising in favour of information technology companies, as the team's second major sponsor became Compaq. That sponsorship lasted until Compaq's acquisition by Hewlett-Packard. At the 2002 British Grand Prix, the team debuted the Hewlett-Packard sponsorship. After complaints about the HP logo on the rear wing it was replaced in 2003 with the sponsor's tag line, "Invent". One of the most memorable results of this technological partnership was a worldwide television commercial featured drivers Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya seemingly driving their BMW Williams cars around a track by radio control from a grandstand.

This "clean" image allowed Williams to sign a cigarette anti-craving brand, NiQuitin, and ironically the Bud beer-brand.

2006

In late 2005, WilliamsF1 and Cosworth announced a partnership agreement for the 2006 season where Cosworth will supply WilliamsF1 with engines, transmissions and associated electronics and software. Cosworth have more experience in building V8 racing engines, as will be required by the 2006 Formula One regulations, than any other current F1 engine manufacturer and also have some history with Williams, being the engine suppler that the team started out with (and won the 1980 and 1982 championships with). On September 14, 2005 it was announced that the long running sponsorship agreement between WilliamsF1 and Hewlett Packard (HP) would be concluded one year before the official end of the contract.

Although neither Williams or HP offered any reason for the early termination some observers have speculated the loss of the title sponsor may be a result of continuing uncertainty over driver lineup for 2006. Despite having signed a contract to race for Williams, Jenson Button decided that he would prefer to stay with BAR for 2006 as it was to become a Honda works team. In September 2005 a deal was reached to allow Button to remain with BAR, with Williams receiving around £24m (some of it paid by Jenson himself) to cancel this contract.

Speculation around 2006 primary sponsorship has been centred around Coca-Cola or current Williams sponsors Anheuser-Busch (with Budweiser but selected races with Sea World Adventure Parks -- usually over trademark disputes or as in France, a ban on alcohol advertising), Royal Bank of Scotland, or Allianz.

Mark Webber is under contract to the team for 2006, and will remain. He will be partnered by Nico Rosberg (son of Keke). Williams are entitled to use a third car on the Friday of a race weekend because they finished lower than 5th in the Constructor's Championship in 2005. While this would be an advantage, the costs for a privateer team are prohibitive, and Williams management are reportedley considering a 'pay driver' for that role.

Other Motorpsort

Williams has been involved in a few motorsport activities outside Formula One.

In 1980 Williams were commissioned by Rover to create a Rally car from the Metro hatchback. They shoe-horned a V6 engine (based on the Rover V8 engine) to create the 4 wheel drive, mid-engined Metro 6R4, to the international Group B rallying regulations. Williams developed the car in just six months.

Williams, under the name Williams Touring Car Engineering, also ran Renault's team for the British Touring Car Championship from 1995-1999. The Renault Laguna based cars were produced at Williams' Didcot factory (the Formula One team having recently moved to new premises at Grove). The touring car venture was very succesful, Williams-Renault won the Manufacturers title in 1995 and 1997 and the BTCC drivers title with Alain Menu in 1997.