Williams Grand Prix Engineering

51°37′5″N 1°24′46″W / 51.61806°N 1.41278°W / 51.61806; -1.41278

United Kingdom Williams-Mercedes
Full nameWilliams Racing
BaseGrove, Oxfordshire, England, UK
Team principal(s)James Vowles
Chief Technical OfficerPat Fry
Founder(s)Frank Williams
Patrick Head
Websitewww.williamsf1.com
2024 Formula One World Championship
Race drivers02. United States Logan Sargeant[1]
23. Thailand Alex Albon[2]
43. Argentina Franco Colapinto[3]
Test driversArgentina Franco Colapinto
ChassisFW46[4]
EngineMercedes M15 E Performance
TyresPirelli
Formula One World Championship career
First entryAs a team
1977 Spanish Grand Prix
As a constructor
1978 Argentine Grand Prix
Last entry2024 São Paulo Grand Prix
Races enteredAs a team: 835 entries (831 starts)
As a constructor: 824 entries (823 starts)
EnginesFord, Honda, Judd, Renault, Mecachrome, Supertec, BMW, Cosworth, Toyota, Mercedes
Constructors'
Championships
9 (1980, 1981, 1986, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997)
Drivers'
Championships
7 (1980, 1982, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997)
Race victories114
Podiums313
Points3631 (3637)[5]
Pole positions128
Fastest laps133
2023 position7th (28 pts)

Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, currently racing in Formula One as Williams Racing, is a British Formula One team and constructor. It was founded by Sir Frank Williams (1942–2021) and Sir 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.[6]

Williams FW36

The team's first race was the 1977 Spanish Grand Prix, where the new team ran a March chassis for Patrick Nève. Williams started manufacturing its own cars the following year, and 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 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 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 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 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.[7]

  1. ^ "F1 grid for 2024 complete as Williams retain Sargeant after rookie season". Formula1.com. 1 December 2023. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  2. ^ "Williams confirm Albon for 2023 on new multi-year contract". Formula1.com. 3 August 2022. Archived from the original on 3 August 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
  3. ^ "Williams Racing announces that Franco Colapinto will race with the team for the remainder of the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season". Formula1.com. 27 August 2024. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  4. ^ "Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant preview the Singapore Grand Prix". Williams Racing. 13 September 2023. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
  5. ^ Extra 6 points are David Coulthard's points from 1995 Brazilian Grand Prix which were not counted towards 1995 World Constructors' Championship.
  6. ^ "Williams F1 Team Vows Carbon Positive Footprint By 2030". Autoweek. 15 October 2021.
  7. ^ "Williams family to step aside from running of the team after Italian GP". www.formula1.com. 3 September 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2020.