Get to know F1 Teams: Williams Racing
Hi, this week I'm introducing Williams Racing.
Williams Racing is 3rd oldest F1 team and joint 3rd most successful team in F1 history.
Head designed the FW07 for the 1979 season with Frank Dernie picking up the aerodynamic development and skirt design. This was the team's first ground effect car, a technology first introduced by Colin Chapman and Team Lotus. Williams also obtained membership of the Formula One Constructors' Association (FOCA) which expressed a preference for teams to run two cars, so Jones was partnered by Swiss driver Clay Regazzoni. It was not until the seventh round of the championship, the Monaco Grand Prix, that they achieved a points-scoring position. Regazzoni came close to taking the team's first win but finished second, less than a second behind race winner Jody Scheckter. The next round at Dijon is remembered for the final lap battle between Rene Arnoux and Gilles Villeneuve, but also saw both cars finish in the points for the first time; Jones was fourth with Regazzoni sixth. The team's first win came at the British Grand Prix – their home Grand Prix – when Regazzoni finished almost 25 seconds ahead of anyone else.
Greater successes followed when Williams cars finished first and second at the next round in Hockenheim, Alan Jones two seconds ahead of Regazzoni. Jones then made it three wins in a row at the Osterreichring, finishing half a minute ahead of Gilles Villeneuve's Ferrari. Three wins in a row became four wins two weeks later at Zandvoort, Alan Jones winning again by a comfortable margin over Jody Scheckter's Ferrari. Scheckter ended the Williams winning streak when he won Ferrari's home race at the Italian Grand Prix, Regazzoni finishing third behind both Ferraris. Alan Jones managed another win at the penultimate race at Montreal to cap off a great season. Williams had greatly improved their Constructors' Championship position, finishing eight places higher than the previous year and scoring 59 more points. Alan Jones was the closest driver to the Ferrari duo of Villeneuve and 1979 champion Jody Scheckter; Jones scored 43 points, 17 behind Scheckter, while Jones's teammate, Regazzoni, was two places behind him with 32 points.
During the 1980 season, Alan Jones partnered with the Argentine Carlos Reutemann. The team started well in the championship, with Jones winning the first round of the season in Argentina. Jones won four more races: Paul Ricard, Brands Hatch, Montreal and the final round at Watkins Glen. Jones became the first of seven Williams drivers to win the Drivers' Championship, 17 points ahead of Nelson Piquet's Bradham. Williams also won its first Constructors' Championship, scoring 120 points, almost twice as many as second-placed Ligier.
The duo won four races for the Williams team in the 1981 season. Alan Jones won at the first round at Long Beach and the final round at Las Vegas, while Carlos Reutemann won at the second round at Jacarepagua and the fifth round at Zolder. Williams won the Constructors' title for the second year running, scoring 95 points, 34 points more than second-placed Brabham.
Alan Jones retired from Formula One (though he would come back a year later for a single race with the Arrows team). The Australian was replaced by Finnish driver, Keke Rosberg, who had not scored a single championship point the previous year. He won the Drivers' title that year despite winning only one race, the Swiss Grand Prix at Dijon-Prenois. Rosberg's teammate, Reutemann, finished in 15th place having quit Formula One after just two races of the new season. His seat was filled by Mario Andretti for the US Grand Prix West before Derek Daly took over for the rest of the year. The Williams team finished fourth in the Constructors' Championship that year, 16 points behind first-place Ferrari.
By the end of the season, Frank Williams realised that to compete at the top levels of Formula One he needed the support of a major manufacturer, such as Renault or BMW who could supply his team with a turbocharged engine.
Frank Williams looked towards Honda, which was developing its own turbocharged V6 engine with the Spirit team. A deal between Honda and Williams was finally settled early in 1983 and the team used the engines for the 1984 season. Until then, for the 1983 season, Williams continued to use the Ford engine except for the last race of the year in South Africa where Keke Rosberg scored an encouraging fifth place. The team finished fourth in the Constructors' Championship, scoring 36 points, including a win for Rosberg at the Monaco Grand Prix.
In March 1986, Frank Williams faced the most serious challenge of his life. While returning to the airport at Nice, France, after pre-season testing at Paul Ricard, he was involved in a road accident that left him paralysed. He did not return to the pit lane for almost a year. Despite the lack of his trackside presence, the Williams team won nine Grands Prix and the Constructors' Championship and came close to winning the Drivers' Championship with Nigel Mansell, but the British driver's left-rear tyre blew at the Australian Grand Prix, the final round of the season, while his fellow championship rival and teammate, Nelson Piquet made a pitstop shortly after Mansell's retirement as a precaution. This left Alain Prost to defend his title successfully, despite being in an inferior car.
The 1987 season brought the Williams-Honda partnership its first and only Drivers' Championship title in the hands of Nelson Piquet. Piquet won three races and scored 76 points – 73 after dropped scores (best eleven results counted) in relation to the Drivers' Championship. His teammate Mansell was in second place with six victories and 61 points for the season. The Williams team won the Constructors' Championship for the second year running, scoring 137 points, 61 points ahead of their nearest rivals, McLaren. Despite this success, Honda ended their partnership with Williams at the end of the year in favour of McLaren and continuing with Lotus.
The team secured an engine supply from Renault in 1989. Renault engines subsequently powered Williams drivers to another four Drivers' and five Constructors' Championships up until Renault's departure from Formula One at the end of 1997. The combination of Renault's powerful engine and Adrian Newey's design expertise led to a particularly dominant period in the mid-1990s. Mansell had a record-breaking 1992 season, winning the title in record time and leading many races from pole to finish. Some maintain that the Wiliams FW14B and FW15C were "the most technologically advanced cars that will ever race in Formula One".
Williams took a step up for the 1992 season, keeping their 1991 driver line-up of Patrese and Mansell. Mansell dominated the first round in South Africa, qualifying in pole position and winning the race by 24 seconds from his teammate, Patrese. Nigel Mansell won the next four rounds for Williams, at Mexico City, Interlagos, Catalunya and Imola, Patrese coming second in all but one (the Spanish Grand Prix at Catalunya, where he retired after spinning off). Mansell's five victories in the opening five races was a new record in Formula One. Senna won the next race in Monaco, ahead of both Williams cars, which finished second and third. In the next race, in Canada, both Williams cars retired: Mansell spun off on entering the final corner (he claimed that Senna pushed him off) and Patrese had a gearbox failure. Mansell went on to record four more Grand Prix wins, including at the British Grand Prix. (In the final round, in Adelaide, the two Williams cars again retired, Mansell after Senna violently crashed into the back of him, and Patrese with electrical problems.) Williams won the Constructors' Championship with 164 points, 65 points more than second-place McLaren. Mansell became World Champion, scoring 108 points, with Patrese finishing second with 56 points. Placing first in nine races, Mansell had set a new record for the most wins by a single driver in one year.
Despite this, there looked to be significant upheaval at Williams for 1993. Alain Prost ended his year-long sabbatical from competition following his 1991 firing by Scuderia Ferrari, and Williams was interested in bringing him in. At the same time Aytron Senna’s contract with McLaren was ending, as was the team's engine contract with Honda, and he had long expressed a desire to pilot one of the Williams machines. Patrese decided to leave the team in the midst of this, joining Michael Schumacher at Benetton. Prost would eventually come to terms, which would cost Williams a shot at Senna and the chance to retain the defending world champion. Mansell and Prost were teammates at Ferrari for a brief period and the Englishman had bad blood with him from their time together, so instead of returning to Williams for 1993 he chose instead to drive for Newman-Haas Racing in the CART Racing Series. Prost also had a longstanding rivalry with Senna dating back to their days as teammates at McLaren, so he had a provision negotiated into his contract that allowed him to have veto power over the driver of the second Williams. Despite Senna's apparent willingness to drive a Williams while collecting no salary, Prost said he did not want to drive with Senna again. Instead, Damon Hill was promoted to take the second Williams ride and Senna returned to McLaren for a final season, driving a Ford-powered car. His teammate for the season was Michael Andretti, whose departure from CART created the vacancy Mansell filled at Newman-Haas.
The Williams FW15C was an extremely dominant car, with active suspension and traction control systems beyond anything available to the other teams. Prost won on his debut for the team in South Africa and, like Mansell, dominated the weekend, taking pole position and finishing a minute ahead of Senna, who was second. The next Grand Prix in Brazil saw Prost collide with Christian Fittipaldi's Minardi in the rain on lap 29, while Hill went on to his first podium finish: second, 16 seconds behind Senna. Prost won three of the next four Grands Prix for Williams, Senna winning the other race. Prost and Hill later scored a 1–2 in France: the only 1–2 of the season for Williams. Prost won the next two Grands Prix at Silverstone and Hockenheim. Hill proved competitive especially in the second half of the season. Mechanical problems cost Hill leads in Britain and Germany, but he went on to win the next three Grands Prix at Hungary, Belgium and Italy which moved him to second in the standings, as well as giving him a chance of taking the Drivers' title. After Italy, Williams would not win a Grand Prix for the rest of the season, as a young Michael Schumacher won the following race in Portugal, and Senna took Japan and Australia to overtake Hill in the points. Williams retained their Constructors' title, 84 points ahead of second-placed McLaren. Prost clinched the Drivers' Championship in Portugal and finished the season 26 points ahead of second-placed Senna.
1993 marked the final season that Williams ran with Canon as its primary backer.
During the 1994 season, Williams used FW16 (developed during the pre-season) and FW16B (with shorter sidepods and optimised for the revised floor regulations which were introduced during the season).
After Canon left the team Williams signed a contract with tobacco company Rothmans International for 1994, and their namesake brand became its primary sponsor from 1994 to 1997.
Unlike in the 1992 offseason, Williams was able to sign Ayrton Senna. The previously mentioned veto power written into Alain Prost's contract was only good for the 1993 season, and thus Senna was free to join Williams for 1994 if he so desired. Now that he was free and clear to do so without any sort of interference, and that McLaren was going through further issues with engine suppliers, Senna finally was able to fulfil his desire to drive for the two-time defending F1 championship team. Prost decided to go out on top, as shortly after Senna signed he announced his retirement from motorsports.
Given this was the same team that had won the previous two World Championships with vastly superior cars, Senna was a natural and presumptive pre-season title favourite, with second-year driver Damon Hill intended to play the supporting role. Between them, Prost, Senna, and Hill had won every race in 1993 but one, which was taken by Benetton's Michael Schumacher.
Based on his finish in the previous season's points standings, Senna was issued car number 2 for the season. Williams would also have been issued car number 1 for 1994, but Prost's retirement caused the number to not be issued (as was the case per F1 rules at the time; the FIA would later allow drivers to select their own numbers). Instead, the team was issued the number 0, which was placed on Hill's car.
Pre-season testing showed the FW16 had speed but was difficult to drive. The Federation Internationale de I'Automobile (FIA) had banned electronic driver's aids, such as active suspension, traction control and ABS, to make the sport more "human". It was these technological advancements that the Williams chassis of the previous years had been built around. With their removal in 1994, Williams had not been a good-handling car, as observed by other F1 drivers, having been seen to be very loose at the rear. Senna himself had made numerous comments that the Williams FW16 had quirks that needed to be ironed out. It was obvious that the FW16, after the regulation changes banning active suspension and traction control, exhibited none of the superiority of the FW15C and Wiliams 14B cars that had preceded it. The surprise of testing was Benetton-Ford which was less powerful but more nimble than the Williams.
The first four rounds were won by Michael Schumacher in the Benetton-Ford. Senna took pole in the first two races but failed to finish either of them. In the third race, the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix in Imola, Senna again took pole position, but was involved in a fatal crash at the second corner after completing six laps. The repercussions of Senna's fatal accident were severe for the team itself, as the Italian prosecutors tried to charge the team and Frank Williams with manslaughter, an episode which was not over until 2005. At the next race in Monaco, Damon Hill was the only Williams on the grid, as a mark of respect to Senna, and retired on the first lap. Since Senna's death, every Williams F1 car has carried a Senna 's' on its livery in his honour and to symbolise the team's ongoing support of the Instituto Aytron Senna, but cars from 2022 onwards will not have the Senna S, with CEO Capito stating it was time to "move on".
At the next race in Spain, Williams brought in test driver David Coulthard as Hill's new teammate. Hill took the team's first victory of the season, by almost half a minute over Schumacher's Benetton, while Coulthard would retire due to an electrical problem. In Montrael, both Williams cars finished in the points for the first time that season, with Hill finishing second and Coulthard finishing fifth. In France, Nigel Mansell replaced Coulthard (in the first of four appearances), at the behest of Renault. At Silverstone, Damon Hill accomplished what had eluded his father, twice Formula One World Champion Graham Hill, by winning the British Grand Prix. Hill closed the points gap with Schumacher, who was disqualified from first at Spa after the Stewards found floorboard irregularities on his Benetton. He was banned for the next two races, and Hill capitalised on this with wins in Italy and a Williams 1–2 in Portugal.
As Schumacher recovered, Hill came around the corner and attempted to overtake into the next corner. Schumacher turned in and the resulting contact (Schumacher in the wall and Hill retiring with bent suspension), meant Schumacher was the champion. This collision has been controversial. Some, such as Williams's Patrick Head, have suggested that this was a deliberate attempt by Schumacher to take Hill out of the race. Others, such as then BBC commentator Murray Walker, defended Schumacher, calling the accident a "racing incident". Meanwhile, Nigel Mansell won the last Grand Prix of his career here, driving the second Williams car.
Williams would end the season as Constructors' Champion for the third consecutive year, scoring 118 points, while Hill finished second in the Drivers' Championship with 91 points.
For 1996, Williams had the quickest and most reliable car, the FW18. Coulthard had left Williams to join Mika Hakkinen at McLaren, and Williams replaced him with Canadian Jacques Villeneuve, who had won the CART series title in 1995, while Hill remained with the team. Schumacher left Benetton to join Ferrari. Williams won the first five Grands Prix, Hill winning all but one of them. Olivier Panis would take victory at the sixth round in Monaco after both Williams cars retired. Hill would retire for the second time in a row after he spun-off in Spain, while his teammate, Villeneuve, took third place. Hill and Villeneuve dominated the next Grand Prix in Canada, with a 1–2 in qualifying and a 1–2 finish. Williams made it a second 1–2 after Hill won the French Grand Prix. Villeneuve won his second race in F1 at Silverstone after Hill retired with a wheel bearing failure on lap 26. Hill was victorious in the next Grand Prix in Germany while Villeneuve won the race after that in Hungary. Schumacher's Ferrari would then take the next two Grands Prix at Spa-Francorchamps and Monza. Villeneuve mounted a title challenge going into the final race of the season at Japan, but Hill reasserted his dominance to take the race and the 1996 title, while Villeneuve lost a wheel and retired.
Williams's dominance was such that they had clinched the Constructors' Championship and only their drivers had a mathematical chance of taking the title, several races before the season concluded. Around that time, Frank Williams announced that Hill would not be re-signed after his contract expired, despite Hill's successes and eventual Drivers' Championship, so he joined Arrows for 1997. Adrian Newey had ambitions as a technical director (rather than just chief designer), but this was not possible at Williams, as Patrick Head was a founder and shareholder of the team. McLaren lured Newey away, though he was forced to take garden leave for the majority of 1997.
For what would be the final season of Williams-Renault and a car designed with Newey's input, Frank Williams brought in German Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who had created a good impression on Williams during his first few seasons in Formula One. Frentzen proved to be a disappointment though, and won only one race in two years with Williams, the 1997 San Marino Grand prix. Jacques Villeneuve won seven races during 1997, compared to five wins by his main rival, Michael Schumacher of a resurgent Ferrari. Williams also achieved the 100-race-win milestone at the British Grand Prix. Coming to the final round of the season at Jerez, Schumacher led Villeneuve by 1 point; however, on lap 48, Schumacher and Villeneuve collided. Schumacher was disqualified from second place in the championship as the accident was deemed by the FIA as "avoidable". Williams won the Constructors' title for the second time in a row, scoring 123 points. Jacques Villeneuve won the Drivers' Championship by three points to Michael Schumacher, who kept his points total despite being removed from second place; thus, runner-up went to Frentzen with 42 points.
2003 would see Williams come closest to winning its first title since 1997. During pre-season, Frank Williams was very confident that the FW25 would challenge for the title. The team won four races, with Montoya winning at Monaco and Germany, while Ralf Schumacher won at the Nurburgring and the following race at Magny-Cours. Montoya stayed in contention for the Drivers' Championship during the season, and finished third, 11 points behind Michael Schumacher, while Ralf Schumacher finished fifth, 24 points behind Montoya. Williams finished second in the Constructors' Championship, two points ahead of McLaren.
Williams opted for Cosworth V8 engines for the 2006 which saw Nico Rosberg replace German Nick Heidfeld, who departed for BMW Sauber, while Mark Webber stayed on with the team. Despite having signed a contract to race for Williams, Jenson Button decided to stay with BAR for 2006 as it was to become a Honda works team. In September 2005 a deal was reached to allow Button to remain with BAR, with Williams receiving around £24m, some of it paid by Button himself, to cancel this contract. Williams and Cosworth entered a partnership agreement where Cosworth would supply engines, transmissions and associated electronics and software for the team. Major sponsors Hewlett-Packard concluded sponsorship agreements one year before their official end of contract. The Williams team also switched to Bridgestone tyres. The season started well, with both drivers scoring points in the opening race of the season, and Nico Rosberg setting the fastest lap at the Bahrain Grand Prix. The rest of the season was disappointing for Williams, with 20 retirements out of 36 starts for the two cars. The team failed to finish on the podium all season, the first time this had happened since Williams's debut season in 1977. The team eventually finished eighth in the Constructors' Championship, with only 11 points.
After the termination of their Toyota contract, Williams announced that from the 2010 season they were to enter into a "long-term partnership" with Cosworth, and would be using an updated version of the CA V8 engine which powered their cars in 2006. Williams also announced a complete driver change for the 2010 season. Rubens Barrichello joined from 2009 Constructors' Champion Brawn GP, whilst GP2 champion Nico Hülkenberg graduated from the test driver seat. Replacing Hülkenberg in the test seat was Finland's Valtteri Bottas, who finished third in the 2009 Formula Three Euroseries as well as winning the non-championship Masters of Formula 3 event at Zandvoort. Their new 2010 car, the Williams FW32, was unveiled for the first time at a shakedown test at Silverstone. Its first official test was on 1 February at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia. Hülkenberg took the team's first pole position in over five years, in variable conditions at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Hülkenberg was dropped from the team ahead of the 2011 season, and replaced by Venezuelan newcomer and reigning GP2 Series champion Pastor Maldonado. The combination of Barrichello and Maldonado meant that 2011 would be the first time since 1981 that Williams would start a season without a European driver in their line-up. At the second pre-season test in Jerez, Barrichello posted the fastest time of the week on the last day. That was to no avail as Williams endured one of their worst seasons to date: two ninth places for Barrichello and one tenth place for Maldonado were their best results during the entire year. After Brazil, the team ended with a ninth place in the Constructors' Championship.
On 4 July 2011, Williams announced they would be reuniting with engine-supplier Renault who were to supply the team's engines from 2012 onwards. On 1 December 2011, it was confirmed that Maldonado would be retained for the 2012 season, along with reserve driver Valtteri Bottas, who took part in 15 Friday practice sessions. In January 2012, it was confirmed that Bruno Senna would be the driver to partner Maldonado, effectively ending Rubens Barrichello's F1 career. Prior to the 2012 season, Patrick Head moved from the Williams F1 team to Williams Hybrid Power Limited, another subsidiary of Williams Grand Prix Holdings. The team also announced that its relationship with AT&T ended by mutual agreement, and there were negotiations with another telecommunications company for team's title sponsorship. At the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix, Pastor Maldonado took his only Grand Prix victory, which was also Williams's first race victory since 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix. Around 90 minutes after celebrating this win, a fire broke out in the garage of the Williams team, damaging the FW34 of Bruno Senna and leaving several injured. The team eventually achieved eighth position in the Formula One World Constructors' Championship.
Claire Williams, the daughter of team principal Frank Williams, was appointed deputy principal in March 2013. Maldonado was retained by the team for 2013 and was joined by Bottas, promoted from his role as test driver. The team struggled throughout the season, despite a good qualifying session at the Canadian Grand Prix and a place in the top 10 at the United States Grand Prix, scoring only five points in the World Constructors' Championship. While Williams enjoyed a victory in the 2012 season and occasional points finishes, they did not reach the same heights as was achieved during their domination of Formula One during the 1990s. This, combined with an absolutely dismal 2013 season, prompted Williams to look for a new engine supplier from the 2014 season onwards.
In May 2013, Williams signed a long-term contract with Mercedes to supply engines for the team, the German manufacturer providing 1.6-litre V6 turbo engines from the start of the 2014 season. Bottas was retained as driver for 2014, and Felipe Massa was signed from Ferrari to replace Maldonado. The team also unveiled a new, multi-year title sponsorship deal with drinks brand Martini. As part of the deal, the team became Williams Martini Racing, except in Bahrain, Russia and Abu Dhabi, where the team is known as Williams Racing because of alcohol advertising restrictions.
The team won its first pole position since 2012, courtesy of Massa at the Austrian Grand Prix; it was the only time that Mercedes would be beaten to pole position over the course of the 2014 season. With Bottas qualifying alongside Massa, it was also the first time the team had locked out the front row since the 2003 German Grand Prix. The team enjoyed an upturn in performance, including a double podium in Abu Dhabi, resulting in them taking third place in the Constructors' Championship. They repeated this feat in the 2015 season, despite a low-key season owing to the resurgence of Ferrari.
On 4 November 2017, Felipe Massa announced his decision to retire from F1. Renault reserve driver and 2016 GP2 Series 3rd-place finisher Sergey Sirotkin was signed as his replacement for 2018, with Robert Kubica joining the team as a reserve and development driver. Williams struggled over the course of the 2018 season, scoring only 7 points and finishing last in the Constructors' Championship standings. Although the FW41 rarely suffered from reliability issues, it was significantly off the pace; the team's highest finish was Stroll's 8th-place finish in Azerbaijan. The team's only other points finish was at the Italian Grand Prix, with Stroll finishing 9th and Sirotkin scoring his first championship point in 10th. This was also the only Grand Prix of the season in which the team reached the third qualifying session, with Stroll starting 10th on the grid. On 27 February 2018 Martini announced that they would leave Williams and Formula One at the end of the 2018 season. On 12 October 2018, the team announced that reigning Formula 2 champion George Russell would be joining the team for the 2019 season. On 22 November 2018 it was announced that reserve driver Robert Kubica would be promoted to the other seat, marking his return to Formula One after eight years away from the sport due to injury. For the 2019 season, the team entered into a partnership with Polish petroleum company PKN Orlen and a multi-year title sponsorship arrangement with telecommunications company ROKiT.
Williams missed the first two-and-a-half days of pre-season testing in Barcelona due to the FW42 not yet being ready, the only team to suffer such a setback.[83] Williams began the season out of reach from being competitive. During qualifying at the season-opener in Australia, their fastest time was almost 1.3 seconds slower than the nearest competitor. In the race, Russell and Kubica finished two and three laps behind the leader respectively. The team's best result of the season came in Germany, where Kubica was classified 10th, the team's only points finish that season. However, this result only came after post-race penalties for other drivers. Upgrades came during the season with which the FW42 began to catch up to its competitors; Russell came within 0.1 seconds of reaching Q2 in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix and finished close to the points with 12th in Brazil. However, both cars would be eliminated in Q1 at every race of the season. Despite the team's lack of performance in comparison to 2014–2017, it was confirmed that Williams have extended their engine supplier partnership with Mercedes until 2025.[84]
On 19 September 2019, Williams announced that Kubica had decided to leave the team at the end of the 2019 season; he would go on to join Alfa Romeo as a reserve driver. 2019 Formula 2 Championship runner-up Nicholas Latifi was promoted from his role of reserve driver to replace Kubica for the 2020 season. Jack Aitken replaced Latifi as reserve driver. In May 2020, following publication of significant losses in 2019, Williams announced the immediate termination of its title sponsorship deal with ROKiT.
On 21 August 2020, Williams was acquired by US investment group Dorilton Capital for €152 million. The amount includes settling the debt of the company and it will continue to run under the Williams name and keep its UK base. Despite being offered the chance to stay on as Team Principal, Claire Williams announced her departure from the team effective after the weekend of the 2020 Italian Grand Prix. Following this announcement, it will be the first time Williams F1 Team has not been under the leadership of the Williams family since its inception 43 years prior. Simon Roberts, who joined Williams from McLaren in May 2020, became the acting team principal of the team. In December 2020, Williams announced Jost Capito will be joining Williams as the new CEO, with Roberts becoming team principal and reporting to Capito.
The 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix saw Williams score their first points since the 2019 German Grand Prix with Robert Kubica, and their first double points finish since the 2018 Italian Grand Prix. At the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix, Russell qualified in 2nd place and scored Williams' first podium since the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, as the race was stopped after only two laps under safety car conditions were completed, allowing most drivers to retain their qualifying position.
Drivers' Champions
Alan Jones (1980)
Keke Rosberg (1982)
Nelson Piquet (1987)
Nigel Mansell (1992)
Alain Prost (1993)
Damon Hill (1996)
Jacque Villeneuve (1997)
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