Five decades of achievements for Williams
Five decades of achievements for Williams
On the occasion of Sir Frank Williams' 78th birthday, GPFans have taken a look back at the greatest successes of the Williams Formula 1 team from each decade.
One of the most successful teams in Formula 1 history, Williams have a large back catalogue of race wins to chose from. For various reasons though, these are the five race victories that GPFans have rated above all others.
1979 British Grand Prix - The first victory for Williams
Alan Jones qualified his Williams on pole, but it was Clay Regazzoni who scored the first victory for Williams.
Both cars had been involved in an early battle with the Ferrari's of Jody Scheckter and Gilles Villeneuve and the Brabham's of Niki Lauda, but Regazzoni was able to take advantage of the poor reliability of others, including a water pump failure in Jones's car, to take the flag by 24-seconds.
The victory kick started a successful period for the Williams team with Jones taking the next three wins. The following season saw Jones take the drivers' title and Williams score a first constructors' title.
1987 British Grand Prix - Mansell-mania
Williams locked out the front row of the grid in qualifying and, after the McLaren of Alain Prost briefly led, the race quickly became a straight duel between Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell.
Piquet enjoyed a two second lead when Mansell pitted for fresh tyres. Exiting his stop almost half a minute behind Piquet, Mansell went on the most famous comeback charge in Formula 1 history, running in qualifying mode and breaking the lap record an astonishing eight times, the Briton made his move for the lead on lap 63 of 65.
Fans broke rank and stormed the track on his cool down lap, creating images that will never be forgotten.
1996 Japanese Grand Prix - Hill takes the title
Having missed out on the 1994 drivers' title with Williams due to the questionable driving of Michael Schumacher, Hill finally claimed his championship title after taking victory in the 1996 Japanese Grand Prix.
Making the most of the mistakes of others, Hill began to pull out his a lead over second placed Michael Schumacher's Ferrari.
The championship was made certain when teammate Jacques Villeneuve suffered a wheel bearing failure. The Canadian reitred from the race and Hill was able to stroke home his Williams-Renault to take the title, leading to the immortal line from commentator Murray Walker, "I've got to stop now, because I've got a lump in my throat."
2003 Monaco Grand Prix - Williams back on top in the principality
Williams had last won on the streets of Monaco in 1983 so, although there were several wins for Williams across the decade, victory on the famous streets probably tasted slightly sweeter than the others.
The race that saw the infamous 'Trulli train' hold up Michael Schumacher, the final portion of the race saw Juan Pablo Montoya defending from Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen.
It later emerged that Montoya had been nursing an engine problem towards the end of the race, making it all the more astounding that the Colombian was able to hold on to take the win.
This remains the only win for the team at Monaco in the past 47-years.
2012 Spanish Grand Prix - Maldonado springs a surprise
The 2012 season saw seven different winners from the first seven races, and Pastor Maldonado was the fifth driver on this list.
The only victory for Williams since the 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix, Maldonado put on an incredible display to deny Fernando Alonso a home win.
Maldonado had inherited pole from Lewis Hamilton, the McLaren driver being excluded from qualifying due to running out of fuel on his cool-down lap, but the win, made more special by having Sir Frank Williams making a rare appearancein the garage.
Related
Change your timezone:
Latest News
Vettel CONFIRMS F1 comeback and reveals what's holding it up
- 24 minutes ago
Hamilton flooded with applications as F1 celebrity pal founds new team
- 1 hour ago
F1 News Today: Hamilton puts himself on the market with F1 set for TAKEOVER worth 'billions'
- 1 hour ago
EXCLUSIVE: Meeting F1's Max Verstappen - Red Bull star’s ‘cool’ canteen encounter
- 2 hours ago
Alonso RIDICULES major FIA decision
- 3 hours ago
Top manufacturer takes HUGE step towards F1 return
- Today 14:00
F1 Race Calendar
-
GP BAHRAIN
29 Feb - 2 Mar
Max Verstappen
-
GP SAUDI ARABIA
7 - 9 Mar
Max Verstappen
-
GP AUSTRALIA
22 - 24 Mar
Carlos Sainz
- GP JAPAN 5 - 7 Apr
- GP CHINA 19 - 21 Apr
- GP USA 3 - 6 May
- GP ITALY 17 - 19 May
- GP MONACO 24 - 26 May
Related news
F1 team boss addresses ruthless driver snub at Australian GP
F1 team's failures blamed on Excel 'joke'
F1 stars set for THRILLING championship-winning car drive
F1 team boss reveals driver plan amid uncertain future
F1 Standings
Drivers
- Oliver Bearman
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2024
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Australia 2024
- MSC Cruises Grand Prix of Japan 2024
- Grand Prix of China 2024
- Miami Grand Prix 2024
- Gran Premio dell'Emilia Romagna 2024
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2024
- Grand Prix du Canada 2024
- Gran Premio de España 2024
- Grand Prix of Austria 2024
- Grand Prix of Great Britain 2024
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2024
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2024
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Italy 2024
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2024
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2024
- Grand Prix of the United States 2024
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2024
- Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2024
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024
- Qatar Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2024
About GPFans
GPFans is a multi-platform, multi-language brand dedicated to Formula One coverage. We bring you all the ins and outs of the sport, 24/7, everything from up-to-the-minute news and features to the latest viral stories and clips.We believe that a new generation of exciting, outspoken drivers will make F1 more popular than ever before, and we want to give our users access to as much of their heroes as possible, on and off the track. From Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo to Sebastian Vettel, we provide in-depth analysis of every every Grand Prix in the season, from Australia to Abu Dhabi.
With Formula One under the new ownership of Liberty Media, how the sport is being covered is evolving, and GPFans will look to be at the heart of this progression into new media, as one of the fastest-growing sites covering the king of motorsports.
Follow us on your favorite social media channel
Corporate & Media
Innovatieweg 20C7007 CD, Doetinchem, Netherlands
+31645516860