The 1980's and 90's were the glory days for the Williams team, they dominated the sport and with Ferrari and McLaren are regarded as part of the fabric of F1, the three are the only teams who have all won more than 100 F1 races. Regrettably, the team owned by the remarkable Sir Frank Williams, has struggled in recent years to produce a winning combination on the track. Nevertheless, the achievements of the team and the exemplary example set by Sir Frank ensure that the team remains popular with the fans and respected by all those associated with the sport.

 

In 2010, Williams finished in sixth place in the Championship, just in ahead of Force India, but a considerable points gap off fifth place Renault. It seems most unlikely that Frank Williams and co-owner Patrick Head are content to run with the mid grid teams, but to break out of such will require a considerable improvement in the performance of the car and such seems unlikely.

The team have retained Rubens Barrichello for the 2011 season and replaced the talented Nico Hulkenburg with Pastor Maldonado who has considerable sponsorship support. Barrichello is an immensely experienced driver, and his retention is entirely understandable, however, it seems that Williams of old would not have settled for experience over raw talent.

Williams Facts and Stats

Base:	Grove, Oxfordshire, U.K.
Team Principals:	Frank Williams & Patrick Head
Technical Chief:	Sam Michael
Drivers:	Rubens Barrichello (No. 11)
	Pastor Maldonado (No. 12)
Chassis:	Williams FW33
Engine:	Cosworth
Tyres:	Pirelli
First Season:	1978
2nd most Constructor Championships:	9	80, 81, 86, 87, 92, 93, 94, 96, 97.
3rd most Driver Championships:	7	Alan Jones (80),
		Keke Rosberg (82),
		Nelson Piquet (87),
		Nigel Mansell (92)
		Alain Prost (93),
		Damon Hill (96),
		Jacques Villeneuve (97),
3rd most wins (all-time):	113	(Until end of season 2010)
F1 fatalities:	1	Ayrton Senna (San Marino) 1994

Frank Williams and Patrick Head founded Williams in 1977. (Frank Williams had earlier [1967-1975] run, with limited success, Frank Williams Racing Cars and Walter Wolf Racing [1976]).

For the Williams team's inaugural season in 1978, Patrick Head designed the FW06 car, driven by the Australian Alan Jones. Jones was the 1977 Australian GP race winner with the Shadow team and was considered, at that time, to be a journeyman driver; however, he was soon to demonstrate he had real ability. The team's first race was the Argentine GP and the lone Williams qualified in 14th and failed to finish due to a fuel system failure. However, the team rapidly improved; scoring their first points with a fourth place finish at the South African GP, and a podium (second place) at the US GP. A tenth place in the Constructors' was not brilliant but 16 points were encouraging for the new team and Jones finishing in 12th was a solid performance.

1979 was a breakthrough season for the team, indeed, if they had a better start to the year they may well have won the championship. Williams joined the Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA) and to comply with the Association's guidelines raced with two cars, - Swiss driver Clay Regazzoni joining the team to race alongside Jones. Colin Chapman at Lotus had introduced the ground effect cars and the Patrick Head designed 1979 car, the FW07, emulated the Lotus concept.  

It was not until round seven, the Monaco GP that Williams scored points, Regazzoni taking second just behind winner Jody Scheckter. In Dijon the two cars finished in the points for the first time (Jones fourth, Regazzoni sixth). Appropriately, Williams first win was at the British GP,- Regazzoni crossing the line almost 25 seconds ahead. The team's first one two came shortly after at Hockenheim, Jones taking the victory. The season continued with another Jones victory at the Österreichring, and then a fourth Williams win two weeks later at Zandvoort. Before the season end, Regazzoni claimed a third place podium finish in Italy and Jones won in Montreal. It was a fantastic season, Williams finishing the season second in the Constructors' championship behind Ferrari. Alan Jones was third and Clay Regazzoni fifth in the Drivers' championship.

The 1979 season had ended brilliantly, and the great form was continued into the 1980; Jones stayed with the team, but Regazzoni was replaced by the Argentine Carlos Reutemann. Alan Jones won five races; Argentina, Paul Ricard, Brands Hatch, Montreal and Watkins Glen. Jones ended the season 17 points ahead of his closest rival in the drivers' championship, and Williams were the runaway Constructors' champions. A remarkable achievement for Williams and Alan Jones, and the start of a golden period for team Williams.

Remarkably, for a still comparatively new team, Williams become a consecutive winner in 1981. Carlos Reutemann just missed out on the drivers' title to Nelson Piquet, and Jones was a close third. Reutemann and Jones both won two races, Brazil and Belgium for Carlos and Jones took the two USA races.

For the 1982 season, Keke Rosberg (Finnish) replaced Alan Jones who retired from F1, and Carlos Reutemann was only to compete in two races before he too announced his retirement to be replaced for the US GP by Mario Andretti, and then Derek Daly for the rest of the season. The season was highly unusual; Keke Rosberg won just one race, the Swiss GP, but won the drivers' championship. (The first driver since Mike Hawthorn in 1958 to win just one race, and win the title). Williams struggled a little in the Constructors' championship finishing in fourth place. 1982 was another low point for the sports safety record; the incredibly talented Gilles Villeneuve was killed in a qualifying session at the Belgian GP, Riccardo Paletti was killed at the Canadian GP, and Didier Pironi suffered terrible injuries to his legs resulting from an accident at the German GP.

In three seasons, Williams had won two Constructors titles and two Drivers' championships, however, turbo technology was clearly going to dominate and such required either huge team resources to develop or the support of a major engine manufacturer, such as Renault or BMW.

Williams agreed an engine deal with Honda in 1983, to supply engines for the 1984 season. In 1983 they continued to race with the normally aspirated Ford engine, that could not supply the power required on most circuits. Rosberg did win the 1983 Monaco GP, but finished the season in fifth place, his teammate, Jacque Laffite struggled to eleventh and the team were a modest fourth.

Much was expected in 1984, but the new Honda engine and chassis was a disappointment, Rosberg won in Dallas, USA but finished the season in eighth place and teammate Laffite in 14th. A sixth place in the Constructors' was a near low point of the decade.

Performance improved in 1985, the car, the FW10 was a carbon-fibre composite (a technology pioneered in F1 by McLaren), and British driver Nigel Mansell joined the team to replace Laffite. Both drivers won two grand prix, but suffered throughout the season with retirements. Rosberg was third in the championship and Mansell sixth. The team improved to finish in third place.

In 1986 the team had a fabulous year, winning nine Grands Prix and the Constructors' title, and almost winning an incredible Drivers' championship. Nigel Mansell just lost out to Alain Prost at the last race of the season, when his rear tyre blew up on the back straight of the Australian GP. Nelson Piquet had joined the team for the '86 season and was in contention for the title at the last race, but pitted as a precaution after Mansell's blow out. The on track success paled into insignificance compared to the terrible accident suffered by team principle Frank Williams. Williams was predictably a speed addict and lost control of his road car when driving to the Nice Airport from a race meeting, his car rolled several times and Williams broke his spinal cord leaving him paralysed. Frank Williams was confined to a wheelchair, but his physical impairment did not dim his work ethic or passion for sport and life, returning to the pit lane for almost a year. Williams is described in detail elsewhere on the site (Legends of F1), suffice to say he is a remarkable man and an inspiration.

The 1987 season was fantastic on the track, but a disappointment in building for the next season. Williams and Nelson Piquet did the double winning the Constuctors' and drivers' titles. Mansell won more races than Piquet, six to three, but Piquet was more consistent, finished the season 15 points ahead of the British driver who finished second for the 2nd time, (at the time the scoring system was based on the best eleven races). Williams were a long way ahead of their closest rival McLaren. Nevertheless, Honda ended the relationship with Williams to supply McLaren and Lotus.

Without a turbo charged engine 1988 was going to be a tough season, the Judd engine was significantly less powerful and World Champion Piquet left at the end of 1987 to join Lotus, he was replaced by Riccardo Patrese, (who had driven one race for Williams in the 1987 replacing a injured Mansell). Mansell as ever drove with great passion, but went the season without a win, two second place podiums at the British and Spanish GP were the only highlights of a poor season. Williams were seventh in the Constructors' championship. (Mansell missed two races through illness; Martin Brundle and then Jean-Louis Schlesser replaced him).

The 1989 season was the start of an incredible period of dominance for Williams. Renault were now supplying the engines, and the team would until the end of 1997 be in a period of great engineering innovation, that took time to translate into points, but by 1997 produced  four Drivers' and five Constructors' Championships. 

Nigel Mansell had left the team at the end of 1988 to be 'replaced' by Thierry Boutsen, (Belgian).  Riccardo Patrese retained his seat. The first Williams Honda race in Brazil resulted in a double retirement, (Boutsen, engine failure and Patrese, alternator failure).

The first podium finish for the Honda powered Williams was a second for Patrese in Mexico, two races later in Canada they achieved the one two with Boutsen claiming the win. Williams were making progress, but still well behind McLaren who won the Championship 64 points ahead of Williams in second place. Patrese was third in the Drivers' and Boutsen fifth.

The decade finished with a win for Boutsen in the Australian GP. Incredibly, Williams had also won the first race of the 1980s.

The 1990 season seemed to be a step back, the team only winning one Grand Prix and finishing in fourth place. However, they had recruited the remarkable designer Adrian Newey and his influence was about to transform not just William but also the rest of the grid. 

Nigel Mansell rejoined William in 1991, replacing Boutsen who left for Ligier. (Damon Hill, the son of former world champion Graham Hill, and the future 1996 world champion was recruited as a test driver). The season started poorly, with both Mansell and Patrese failing to finish at the season opening race at Phoenix, and then again at San Marino and Canada. However, in the intervening races, Patrese was second at Interlagos and Mansell second at Monaco, (both races won by McLaren's Ayrton Senna).

The reliability and good fortune of Williams returned in Mexico, the drivers achieving a one two finish, Patrese winning. Mansell then won three consecutive races the French, British and German Grands Prix, (Williams claiming a one two in Germany). Mansell had two further wins in the season, (Italy and Spain), and Patrese won in Portugal. Nigel Mansell, must have felt he was an F1 nearly man, finishing second in the Drivers' world championship for the third time. Patrese was third but the team still missed the Constructors' title to McLaren. (Senna won the Drivers' title).

Williams finished second in the Constructors' championship, scoring 125 points in total, 14 points behind McLaren. Mansell finished second in the Drivers' championship, scoring 72 points, 24 points behind Senna.

Nigel Mansell had a huge following, not just in Britain but around the world. He could be grumpy and irascible, but he was always committed and incredibly brave, and the fans loved him. They wanted him to win the championship and so the performance in 1992 was incredibly exciting, watching Mansell at his best in a great car. Mansell won the first five races of the season, South Africa, Mexico City, Interlagos, Catalunya and Imola. Incredibly, Patrese came second in all but one of the races the Spanish Grand Prix, where he retired after spinning off. (Mansell's five victories in the opening five races is a record equalled by Michael Schumacher in 2004). Mansell was second in Monaco and Patrese third.

Both drivers retired in Canada, Patrese with gearbox issues and Mansell span off at the final corner, he accused Senna of pushing him off. Before the season end, Mansell won another four races including his home race. Mansell won the Drivers world championship and Patrese was second. Williams were easily the Constructors' champions with a 65 points margin over McLaren. (Mansell's nine wins in a season was at the time a record, equalled by Michael Schumacher in 1995, 2000 and 2001, Schumacher broke the record in 2002, winning 11 races and then again in 2004 winning 13 races). 

To most fans it seemed that Nigel would stay at Williams, he had won the championship in style and he was the British Champion driving for a British team. Nevertheless, both Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna wanted to join Williams. Prost agreed terms with the team, which included a clause to prevent Williams hiring Senna for the 1993 season. Mansell and Prost did not get on well, so Mansell left the team to race in the CART series in America. Damon Hill replaced Patrese, who had joined Benetton.

An all-new driver team did little to change the dominance of the Williams team, the car the FW15C was far superior with innovative technology such as active suspension and traction control far advanced to the systems used by the rest of the grid. Prost won the opening race of the season in South Africa, and Damon Hill took a second place at the next race in Brazil, it was Hill's first podium finish. William's domination continued with Prost winning six of the next eight races, including a 1-2 finish for the team in France, and Hill winning in Hungary Belgium and Italy. In the last three races of the season, neither Williams' driver took a win, with Prost finishing in second place in all three and Hill third in two.  Williams were once again Constructors' champions, finishing way ahead of McLaren, Prost won the Drivers title with two rounds to go and Hill finished in a good third place.

1994 was a tragic year for Williams and Formula one, the results on the track and the sport itself was overshadowed and dramatically altered in subsequent years by the death at Imola of the F1 biggest star Ayrton Senna, and at the same race weekend Roland Ratzenberger. Many F1 drivers had died in the early years of F1, but safety standards had improved considerably. Indeed, it was twelve years since a high profile driver was killed on the track. - (Giles Villeneuve, crashed and died at the Belgium GP in 1982.  Paletti was also killed in 82 and Elio de Angelis in 1986, however, they were much lower profile than Villeneuve). Ayrton Senna is discussed in detail in the Legends of F1, suffice to note that most aficionados rate Ayrton Senna in the top five F1 drivers of all time, with Clark, Fangio, Schumacher and Prost, with many arguing only Clark was better.     

It was not surprising that with Williams having won the Constructors' and Drivers' titles in 1992 and 1993 that Ayrton Senna would want to drive for the team, they had had vastly superior cars. He was prevented in joining in 1993 by Prost's contractual arrangement but for the 1994 season, there was nothing preventing the move. When Senna agreed terms, Alain Prost announced his retirement; the animosity between the two was beyond mere competitive rivalries. Damon Hill remained with the team and was expected to play a supporting role to the star driver.

The FIA introduced new rules for the 1994 season; they banned many of the technical innovations introduced by Williams. Gone was many electronic driving aids such as active suspension, traction control and ABS. Pre-season testing showed that the Williams FW16 was quick but very hard to control, the advantage the FW15C and FW14B cars had in prior seasons had all but disappeared. The Benetton Ford driven by the young Michael Schumacher was in pre-season testing proving to be a better package, less powerful in a straight-line, but better in track condition than the Williams.

Senna qualified on pole in the opening two races of the season but retired in both, Schumacher winning both. The third round of the 1994 season was the San Marino GP in Imola, the Austrain Roland Ratzenberger (Simtek team) was killed in qualifying - the drivers including not least Senna were deeply troubled and agreed in the pre-race briefing to re-form the Grand Prix Drivers' Association,- Senna, Gerhard Berger and Michael Schumacher were to be the associations first directors.

Senna qualified for the race on pole, but a big accident at the start caused by JJ Lehto (Benetton) stalling and being hit at speed by Pedro Lamy (Lotus-Mugen), a wheel came off the car and landed in the grandstand injuring nine people. The safety car was deployed, but seemed to be driving slower than normal, indeed Senna pulled alongside the safety car and gesticulated for the driver to increase speed. The slower speeds cause the tyres to cool and cause a drop in pressure.  At the restart, Senna was quick, and as he entered the high-speed Tamburello corner at the beginning of lap six his car left the track and hit the concrete wall at about 135mph (217km/h). The medical emergency team led by Professor Sid Watkins arrived quickly at the scene and actively treated Senna for his injuries at the crash site before he was airlifted to Bologna hospital where he was declared dead. When the wreckage of Senna's car was examined, the officials found a furled Austrian flag that Senna planned to raise at the end of the race in honour of Roland Ratzenburger.

The cause of the accident was identified as a steering column failure and as a result, the Italian authorities investigated the Williams team for manslaughter. The case was closed after a Court of Appeal ruled in 2007 that Patrick Head was culpable for omitted control in the badly designed and poorly executed modifications to the car. The court ruling came 13 years after the accident and had thus exceeded Italy's statute of limitation of seven years and six months. Head was not arrested, and most consider the ruling to be a most unfair slur on the team at the cutting edge of a dangerous sport.  Schumacher won the race that had continued without knowledge of Senna's death.

At the next race in Monaco, only one Williams was on the grid, and the race was started with the first two grid positions left empty, in memory of Senna and Ratzenberger, and since Senna's death, every Williams F1 car has carried a Senna 'S' somewhere on its livery in his honour.

The responsibility on Damon Hill's shoulders must have been considerable after Senna's death; he handled such with great maturity and demonstrated strength of character that belied his somewhat at times timid expression, not to mention his often-overlooked considerable driving skills.

The Williams test driver David Coulthard was promoted into Senna's seat, he was to drive in eight races in 1994, Nigel Mansell was brought back and took over first in France and then at the last three races of the season. (Mansell the 1992 world champion was paid approximately £900,000 per race, Damon Hill was paid £300,000 for the entire season, however, Hill was to remain the lead driver).

The next race in Spain, just four weeks after Senna's death, Hill won. (Twenty-six years earlier Graham Hill (Lotus) had won in Spain after the death of his illustrious teammate Jim Clark). Coulthard retired with electrical problems, with Schumacher claiming second.

Hill finished the Canadian GP in second and for the first time in the season two Williams cars scored points as Coulthard finished in fifth. Hill was second in the next race in France and then won the British GP. (Damon's father Graham had won the world championship twice and Monaco five times, but was never victorious in his home Grand Prix). Damon Hill was a disappointing eight in Germany, but was second at the next race in Hungary. Hill then won in Belgium, Italy and Portugal, (Williams had a one two in Portugal). Michael Schumacher was disqualified at Spa (Belgium) because of floorboard irregularities and was banned from the next two races. Hill was rapidly closing the championship points gap with Schumacher, however, at the European GP, the first race after his suspension, Schumacher won again with Hill in second. With two races left, Hill was just five points behind Schumacher, but to stand any chance of winning the title he would have to beat Schumacher at the next race, the Japanese GP. Hill was fantastic in the wet conditions and won the race with Schumacher in second place.

At the start of the last race of the season the Australian GP, Hill was one point behind Schumacher.  Mansell qualified on pole but had a poor start, so it was Hill and Schumacher battling for the win and the championship.  Schumacher was driving with relatively little down force and at about the half way stage of the race clipped the barrier at the fifth corner and going wide at the next corner collided with Hill, taking both cars out of the race. Schumacher consequently won the championship by one point over Hill. Mansell won the race and Williams were the Constructors' champions for the third consecutive year. The Hill Schumacher crash of 1994 is controversial, some including Patrick Head have stated that Schumacher acted deliberately, others suggest it was just a racing accident. However, the records book show Schumacher won the title.

1995 was to be Benetton and Schumacher's year, Mansell left Williams again and Hill and Coulthard battled with the young German.  Hill won five races in the season and was on the podium five more times and Coulthard recorded his first win. Nevertheless, Schumacher was dominant, and this time beat Hill in to second by 33 points. Williams were second in the championship but were perhaps compensated by not losing to their biggest rivals, at the time McLaren.

Coulthard was replaced for the 1996 season by the Canadian Jacques Villeneuve. Jacques Villeneuve was, like Hill, the son of a famous racing driver, Gilles Villeneuve was killed in 1982 as is widely considered one of the finest F1 drivers, although he did not win the world championship.

Hill was in incredible form at the start of the season, winning four of the first five races, Villeneuve won the other race. The winning run stopped for a while at Monaco with both the Williams cars retiring. (Damon Hill was never to win at Monaco, the race his father was to 'make his own', winning five times). Hill did not finish in the next race at Spain, Villeneuve finishing in third. A double one two for Williams in Canada and France, was followed by Villeneuve's second win of the season at Silverstone, Hill retired. Hill won in Germany and then Villeneuve won in Hungary. Schumacher who had joined Ferrari won the next two races at Spa-Francorchamps and Monza. Fittingly Damon Hill won the last race of the season in Japan and won the World Championship. (Graham and Damon are the only father and Son winners of the Drivers' championship). Villeneuve was second in the championship and Williams easily won the Constructors' title.

Very surprisingly for many, particularly Hill's legion of British supporters, Frank Williams announced before the end of the season that Hill was to be dropped and be replaced by the German Heinz-Harald Frentzen. (It was to be one of Frank Williams' rare poor decisions, as Frentzen proved not to be in Hill's league).

Of far greater long-term significance, the fabulous designer, Adrian Newey left Williams for McLaren. Newey was prevented from working in 1997 because of his non-compete clauses, but his departure was most likely the single greatest cause of the Williams decline. Newey wanted to be the Williams technical director, but Patrick Head as a founder and shareholder was unwilling to give up control. [Newey went on to design Championship winning cars for McLaren and Red Bull].

1997 was to be the last winning season for Williams, sadly, 1997 was to be a final glory year and it would have astounded the grid if they knew then that Williams would fail to rediscover a winning package up to and including the 2010 season.

Newey's design input was still apparent in the 1997 cars design, but Frentzen found little edge and was soon recognised as a poor replacement for Hill, winning just one race in 1997, the San Marino GP. However, Villeneuve continued his good form of the previous year winning seven races that included winning the British GP achieving the team's 100th race win. Schumacher at Ferrari was also having a great season winning five races.

The final round of the championship was at Jerez, Schumacher was leading Villeneuve by one point. The circumstances were similar to 1994, when Schumacher and Hill collided on the last race of the season at Jerez, resulting in Schumacher controversially winning the title by one point. However, the result was to be memorably different.

Very unusually Villeneuve, Schumacher, and Frentzen, all registered the same fastest qualifying time. Villeneuve was awarded pole position since he had set the time first. Schumacher overtook Villeneuve at the start of the race, but by lap 48 Villeneuve was in a close enough position to try to overtake the German, he was on the inside line at the Dry Sac corner, and was slightly ahead when Schumacher turned into him, his front right wheel connecting with the side-pod of the Williams car. The impact caused Schumacher to retire immediately, but Villeneuve was able to continue and finishing in third place won the Drivers' championship.  Williams retained the Constructors' title. Schumacher was judged by the FIA to have caused an avoidable accident and was disqualified from the championship. [Schumacher's race results for 1997 however are still included in his statistics]. Following Schumacher's disqualification, Frentzen was promoted to second in the final standings, but his point total was a long way behind his teammates.

The 1998 season was in Williams's terms a disappointment. They lost engine supplier Renault, and had to pay for Mecachrome engines that were not competitive and the car had very few upgrades from the prior model. The lack of the engineering genius Newey was very apparent. Villeneuve and Frentzen stayed with the team, but recorded no wins in '98 and only three third place podiums (one for Frentzen, Australia, and two for Villeneuve, Germany & Hungary). The title battle was fought between Ferrari and McLaren and Williams was a distant third. (Villeneuve finished fifth in the Driver's championship and Frentzen, seventh.

Results in 1999 were even more disappointing, a new driving team of Ralf Schumacher (German) and Alex Zanardi (Italian) could not perform miracles with a 'slow' car. Ralf Schumacher did achieve a second place finish in Italy and two thirds, Australia & Britain, but the team slipped to fifth in the Constructor's championship.

The huge German car manufacturer BMW had entered an engine supply deal with Williams for a debut in 2000, the agreement had an understanding that at least one of the driver's would be German, hence Ralf Schumacher's position was secure, and the young British driver Jenson Button joined the team to replace Zanardi. The 2000 season was an improvement on 1999, but the team did not have a win, Ralf did secure three podium finishes and was fifth in the Drivers' championship, Button made a number of mistakes, but impressed many by his smooth driving method. (Nine years later Button fulfilled his potential becoming the 2009 world champion). Williams finished third in the Constructor's championship.

Juan Pablo Montoya replaced Button for the 2001 season, and the FW23 was certainly an improvement in design and was quick, enabling the team to record four wins; Ralf Schumacher victorious at Imola, Montreal & Germany and Montoya winning at Monza. Nevertheless, the car was unreliable and the pit made several mistakes and consequently despite having at times the fastest car Williams once again was beaten in the Constructors' championship by McLaren and Ferrari. 

Ferrari was imperious in the 2002 season, winning all but two races in the season. Ferrari drivers Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello were one two in the Drivers' championship, and whilst Montoya and Ralf Schumacher were third and fourth they were a long way back. Williams were second in the Constructors' but with just a one race win in the season there was a cavernous gap to the Red team.

During the 2003 pre-season testing Frank Williams expressed his confidence that the FW25 would be a title challenger and indeed the team had a better season with both drivers winning two races; Montoya, Monaco & Germany, Ralf Schumacher, Nürburgring & Magny-Cours. Nonetheless, the car was again far from Ferrari's performance, and Williams finished the season in second but ahead [just] of McLaren.  Montoya was third in the championship with Ralf Schumacher fifth.

It was difficult for teams to compete with Ferrari, in 2004 they won an incredible 15 of the eighteen race calendar. Williams made little impression on the season save for a win for Montoya at the last race of the season in Brazil. The team's six podium finishes could not hide the increasing gap between Williams and a championship competitive team; they finished in fourth with Montoya in a moderate (for his talent) fifth. 

The 2005 season was tough for Williams. On track performance was poor, with two new drivers at the start of the season; Mark Webber and German Nick Heidfeld, unable to improve the performance of the car. And the BMW Motorsport director Mario Theissen complaining publically about the team's inability to create a winning combination, Williams argued, again publically that BMW could not produce a good enough engine. The relationship was broken down with both parties frustrated at the lack of credible results. A poor season finished with Williams in fifth place in the championship. Webber was tenth and Heidfeld just behind in eleventh although the German had missed five races due to injury.

BMW parted company at the end of the season and Williams opted for Cosworth V8 engines for the 2006 season. Nick Heidfeld left Williams to join Sauber, the team that BMW had purchased after parting company with Williams; he was replaced by Nico Rosberg driving alongside Mark Webber. If the team had felt replacing the engines would improve performance, they were to be extremely disappointed. From 36 starts, they recorded 20 retirements, and failed to finish any race on the podium, (the first time since Williams' first season in 1977). The team eventually finished eighth in the Constructors' championship, with just 11 points.

The terrible 2006 season resulted in a number of changes, the team switching engine supplier again; Toyota agreeing to supply engines in 2007. Alexander Wurz replaced Mark Webber and the new title sponsor would be AT&T. The changes certainly improved results with Rosberg consistently finishing in the points, his teammate Wurz was less productive and was replaced for the last race of the season by test driver Kazuki Nakajima. Williams finished the season in a respectable fourth place in the championship, and whilst not a return to the glory days a more appropriate position for a team with such pedigree.

Regrettably, despite retaining the services of the talented Nico Rosberg for the 2008 season the results were once again poor. Rosberg was on the podium twice, Australia & Singapore, but both he and more so Nakajima struggled with the cars poor cornering ability in the rest of the season. Williams finished a disappointing 8th in the Constructors' championship.

The 2009 season was little better, in fact the team failed to podium and finished in seveth in the championship. Further, Toyota announced its withdrawal from F1 and consequently once more Williams changed engine suppliers.

In 2010, the Williams cars were once again powered by Cosworth engines, and had a new driver line up. The highly experienced Rubens Barrichello joined to race alongside the F1 rookie, GP2 champion Nico Hülkenberg. The results remained mediocre with no podium finishes; however, Hülkenberg took the team's first pole position in over five years, in variable conditions at the Brazilian Grand Prix. The team finished the season in sixth place.

It is hard not to keep comparing today's team with those of the glory years of the 80's and 90's, such is perhaps unfair, but Frank Williams remains a giant of the sport and few would begrudge him and his team a few more championships.

For the 2011 season, Hülkenberg was dropped from the team to be replaced by Venezuelan newcomer and reigning GP2 Series champion Pastor Maldonado. Rubens Barrichello remains with the team, and with increased revenues generated by Maldonado's sponsorship and his undoubted skills, 2011 might just see Williams compete again with the top teams.

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