A detailed look at the profile of Formula 1 team Williams – Part 2
One of the most prestigious and inspiring teams of Formula 1 Williams secured 9 constructors’ championships in its over 30-year long journey in the sport.
The team’s journey had been more like a rollercoaster ride with a lot of ups and downs as the team never stabilised its performance which was their biggest problem since the beginning. After giving drives and championships to drivers like Nigel Mansell,
Jacques Villeneuve, Damon Hill and Alain Prost, the team was unable to score some good results after the 90s.
The final championship the team earned was through the team of Heinz Harold Frentzen and Jacques Villeneuve in 1997 when Villeneuve secured the drivers’ title as well as he defeated Michael Schumacher and Ferrari.
Either way, the team was looking extremely strong during that time as they had strong drivers but unfortunately after that, the team’s performance started to decline and now they are nothing more than a ‘casual’ mid-running team.
In 1998, the team secured a disappointing 3rd place in the constructors’ standings as they were unable to cope up with the pace of the champions of that year McLaren, and their challengers Ferrari.
1999 was no different either as their performance declined even more and the team finished in 5th place as a result. One of the major factors of this downfall was that the team changed its drivers a bit too quickly as they changed
their drivers’ line-up completely in 1999.
They signed Michael Schumacher’s brother Ralf Schumacher alongside the Italian driver Alex Zanardi.
The following year, it was Jenson Button and Ralf Schumacher driving alongside each other in the team but still, they were unable to give the team its required performance as they once again enabled the team to secure the 3rd place
in the constructors’ standings.
However, the next couple of years proved to be quite promising for the team as they signed Juan Pablo Montoya as a replacement for Button and this change proved to be a success. Since the team was using BMW engines, their performance improved and they secured
the 3rd place in the 2001 Formula 1 season after a very decent run.
The team further secured two 2nd place finishes in the constructors’ standings in the following 2 years which was quite spectacular for them as they finished ahead of McLaren.
Like always, the team was unable to keep this pace and their performance deteriorated once again as Montoya left the team to join McLaren and Schumacher left the team as well.
In 2005, the team signed Nick Heidfeld and Mark Webber after which the team’s major decline started.
The team went through a handful of changes the following years and their best run up until now was in the 2007 Formula 1 season when they finished in 4th place after signing Nico Rosberg in 2006.
In 2010, the team finished in a disappointing 6th place in the constructors’ standings despite the fact that they had two talented drivers Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg.
Now it seems that they need some major improvements and changes in order to improve their performance but one has to admit, it is going to take the team a lot of time to bring back the championship winning Williams we once witnessed in the 90s and the 80s
mainly.
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