How it began

Frank Williams set up his own team, Frank Williams Racing Cars, in 1966, and in 1969 he first entered it in the World Championship: in a customer Brabham chassis Piers Courage finished second twice. In 1970 the partnership with De Tomaso ended with Courage’s death at the Dutch Grand Prix, and in 1976 the team came under the control of oil businessman Walter Wolf. In 1977 Williams left and, together with engineer Patrick Head, founded Williams Grand Prix Engineering.

The new team’s first car, Head’s FW06, made its debut at the Argentine Grand Prix on 15 January 1978 with Alan Jones at the wheel. A year later the ground-effect FW07 brought the first pole and the first win on the same weekend: at the British Grand Prix on 14 July 1979 Jones started from pole but retired, and Clay Regazzoni won. Before the end of the season Jones added four more wins, in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Canada.

Titles in the 1980s

The first championship season was 1980: Alan Jones won the title and the team the Constructors’ Championship. In 1981 Williams took the Constructors’ Championship again, and in 1982 Keke Rosberg became champion, winning just one race all season — the Swiss Grand Prix on 29 August 1982.

With Honda engines the team won the 1986 and 1987 Constructors’ Championships, and in 1987 Nelson Piquet became champion ahead of his team-mate Nigel Mansell. In March 1986 Frank Williams was in a road accident near the Paul Ricard circuit and suffered a spinal injury that left him unable to walk; Patrick Head took over the running of the team during that period.

The Renault era

The most successful era came with Renault engines and designer Adrian Newey, who arrived in 1990: the Constructors’ Championships of 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996 and 1997, and four drivers’ titles — Nigel Mansell in 1992, Alain Prost in 1993, Damon Hill in 1996 and Jacques Villeneuve in 1997. Mansell began the 1992 season with five wins in a row from pole, from the South African Grand Prix on 1 March to the San Marino Grand Prix on 17 May.

The same period was marked by tragedy: on 1 May 1994 Ayrton Senna was killed at the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola. He started from pole in his third race for Williams and crashed on lap seven. The team still won that season’s Constructors’ Championship: Damon Hill took six wins, and the returning Mansell won the season-ending Australian Grand Prix on 13 November 1994.

In the 2000s Williams raced with BMW engines: Ralf Schumacher brought the partnership’s first win at the San Marino Grand Prix on 15 April 2001, and Juan Pablo Montoya its last at the Brazilian Grand Prix on 24 October 2004. In 2003 the team finished second in the Constructors’ Championship, beaten only by Ferrari.

2010–2025

On 13 May 2012 Pastor Maldonado won the Spanish Grand Prix from pole — the team’s first win since Brazil 2004. By then Patrick Head had already left the board, stepping down on 31 December 2011. Since 2014 the team has used Mercedes power units, and in two consecutive seasons, 2014 and 2015, it finished third in the Constructors’ Championship.

A decline followed: the team finished the 2019 season last, in tenth, with a single point. In 2020 the Williams family sold the team to the investment firm Dorilton Capital. On 29 August 2021 George Russell finished second at the Belgian Grand Prix — a race cut short by rain, for which half points were awarded.

Alexander Albon joined the team in 2022, and since January 2023 it has been run by James Vowles, previously Mercedes’ strategy director. In 2025 Carlos Sainz joined Albon: on 21 September 2025 he started second and finished third at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix — the first Williams podium since Spa 2021 — and on 30 November 2025 he was third again at the Qatar Grand Prix. The team finished 2025 fifth in the Constructors’ Championship.

2026 season

Williams started 2026 with Alexander Albon and Carlos Sainz, the FW48 and a Mercedes power unit. The regulations are new, and there are now eleven teams, with Cadillac joining the championship. Sainz scored the first points of the year with ninth place at the Chinese Grand Prix on 15 March 2026, where Albon was unable to start. In Miami on 3 May 2026 both drivers scored — Sainz ninth, Albon tenth — and the best result of the first half of the season came from Albon in Monaco on 7 June 2026: eighth after starting eleventh.