f1buzz.net

Full name

AT&T WilliamsF1 Team

Base

Grove, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom

Team principals

Frank Williams

Patrick Head

Technical director

Sam Michael

Race drivers

Nico Rosberg

Kazuki Nakajima

Test drivers

Nico Hülkenberg

Chassis

Williams-FW31

Engine

Toyota RVX-09

Tyres

Bridgestone

Debut

1978 Argentine Grand Prix

Constructors’ Championships

9

Drivers’ Championships

7

2008 position

8th (26 points)

WilliamsF1, was founded and run by Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head in 1977 after two earlier and, compared with WilliamsF1’s achievements, unsuccessful F1 operations, Frank Williams Racing Cars and Walter Wolf Racing.

Williams’ first race was the 1977 Spanish Grand Prix, where the new team ran a March chassis for Patrick Nève. Williams started manufacturing its own cars the following year, and Switzerland’s Clay Regazzoni won Williams’ first race at the 1979 British Grand Prix. At the 1997 British Grand Prix, Canadian Jacques Villeneuve won the team’s 100th race, making Williams one of only three teams in Formula One, alongside Ferrari and fellow British team McLaren, to win 100 races. Williams won nine Constructor’s titles between 1980 and 1997. This stood as a record until Ferrari surpassed it in 2000.

Many famous racing drivers have driven for Williams, including Australia’s Alan Jones; Finland’s Keke Rosberg; Britain’s Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill; France’s Alain Prost; Brazil’s Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna, and Canada’s Jacques Villeneuve, each of whom, with the exception of Senna, have captured one Drivers’ title with the team. After Senna died in a Williams car in a crash at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, Frank Williams, Patrick Head and designer Adrian Newey were all accused of manslaughter. The trial finally closed in 2005, when Williams, Head and Newey were cleared of any wrongdoing.

Williams have worked with many notable engine manufacturers, most successfully with Renault: Williams won five of their nine constructors’ titles with the French company. Along with Ferrari, McLaren, and Renault (formerly Benetton), Williams is one of the “Big Four” teams that have won every constructors’ championship since 1979 and every driver’s championship since 1984. Williams remains the only one independently owned, as the other three “factory teams” have been set up by or bought out by major automobile manufacturers.

This page is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article “WilliamsF1″