Williams is one of the most well known Formula One Grand Prix teams. Frank Williams founded this company and it is also ran by Frank Williams and Patrick Head.

The Forming of Williams

This team was formed in 1977. Williams’ first appearance in Grand Prix was the 1977 British Gran Prix. They won the first Grand Prix at Britain in 1979 and this was won by Switzerland’s Clay Regazzoni. In 1999, Canadian Jacques Villeneuve won the team’s 100th race and this made them to join the race with Ferrari and another British Team McLaren and became the Third team to reach that goal.

In the time period of 1980 to 1997 Williams had won the Constructor Championship for nine times yet this record was outperformed by Ferrari in the year 2000. All these records were easier to make because many famous drivers including Australia’s Alan Jones, Britain’s Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill. In the 1990′s they dominated the Formula One Grand Prix by winning four driver’s title’s and five constructor title’s. During the 1990′s especially the years 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996 and 1997 they dominated the competition.

Williams Embraces the Renault Engine

All these marvelous performances were due to the Renault Engine which had tremendous power. This engine was also used by Benetton and also by Michael Schumacher, for them it tremendously helped them to gain two championships during that decade. Williams team records were evergreen as they are one among the "BIG FOUR team" as they won constructors championships ever since 1979 and also drivers’ championships from 1984.

They also have a unique specialty as they were the only team owned independently and the remaining three were either bought out or set up by various automobile manufacturing companies.

Modern Day Williams

This Williams team also has recent records. They won its last world championship in 1997 and this was because of Jacques Villeneuve who is the strike or main driver of the team. After this they faced many difficulties as the Renault Company first broke their partnership and after that BMW joined hands with them. Because of the new arrival it took some time for them to rebuild its engine. At the same time Williams key designer joined McLaren, in spite of his moving they gained their championship in the same year.

BMW was with them from 2000 to 2005 and during that period the team has won 10 races and also in the constructors championship they bagged the second place in 2003. However, there is one only one sad thing, and that is they weren’t able to regain their top spot as the machine used by Ferrari and McLaren was beyond this engines level. Recently they signed a contract with Toyota which supplies engines for them in the upcoming season and they are looking for better results during this next season.