| History: Frank Williams was a driver in Formula three before
deciding to move in to running an f1 Brabham team for his friend Piers
Courage. In 1970 during the Dutch GP. Courage was killed. Williams
decided to carry on, it was a struggle for Frank
on his own but his determination kept him going. The team was called
Wolf-Williams.
Patrick Head joined the team in 1976,
and when Williams had a falling out with Walter Wolf the team split and
Williams and Head went in to partnership on their own. They gained money
from Saudia Arabia and with Head as designer built a brand new team for
the start of the 1977 season.
Things came together for Williams in
1980 with a Ford engine and Alan Jones driving they won the first round of
the season in Argentina. Jones went on to win a further four GP's had
three second places and two third places. Williams had it's first world
champion and the constructors cup.
Frank was involved in an accident in
1986 which has left him in a wheel chair but has still managed to carry on
running the team that has won constructors victories in 1980, 1981, 1986,
1987, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, and 1997.
Williams has a new engine for 2000, a
works BMW, and a new driver Jenson Button to drive along side Ralf
Schumacher.
The 2000 season was a good
one for Williams, they finished third in the constructors championship.
Ralf Schumacher finished fifth in the drivers championship with twenty
four points gained by three third places two fourth's and three fifth's.
Jenson Button in his first year showed great talent and a sign of things
to come, he finished eighth in the drivers championship with eleven
points with one fourth place four fifth's and one sixth place.
In 2001 Jenson Button left the team
to join Benetton on a two year loan but should be back at Williams in
2003. The driver line up for
this year was Ralf Schumacher
and Juan
Pablo Montoya. The season was a real success for Williams with Schumacher
finishing fourth in the drivers championship and Montoya finishing
6th. The BWM engine had plenty of power but proved unreliable at
times.
2002 was a
good year for the BMW Williams team, the driver
line up remained the same as last with Ralf Schumacher and Juan
Pablo Montoya. The cars ran well but always seemed to suffer
technical problems, Montoya finished 3rd in the drivers
championship and Schumacher 4th, the team finished second in the
constructors ahead of McLaren.
This year the drivers remain
the same and if the team can sort out the technical problems
regarding reliability who knows how hard they could push Ferrari,
but first they must stay ahead of McLaren. |
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