WILLIAMS: 750 RACES LATER
Last year we saw Ferrari celebrate reaching 1000 races in Formula One at Mugello. However this year it's Williams' turn as at the Monaco Grand Prix - as they will hit the ever impressive milestone of reaching 750 races in Formula One - this is a look back at the history and those who have raced for Frank Williams.
Williams first entered into F1 in 1975 at the season opener in Argentina where their first ever driver line-up of Jacques Laffite and Italian driver Arturo Merzario - got off to the worst possible start a new team could ask for as both drivers failed to finish but despite the early trouble in the same season Williams would show the world why they belong in F1 as they took a shock podium at the German Grand Prix (Race 11 / 14) with Laffite coming home in second behind race winner Reutemann and ahead of Niki Lauda.
Williams would stay a back marker team for another two years until in 1979 when they finished runners up in the constructors second only to the ever dominant Ferrari. The team now had Alan Jones and Clay Regazzoni in the car and it clearly payed off. In the fourth round in America - Jones came home in third. This was the catalyst for things to come as after two poor races it came to the Monaco Grand Prix which was the beginning of a points scoring streak which would last until round 14 of 15.
Williams would go on to become one of the most successful constructors in the sport winning the Constructors World Championship on nine occasions in
1980 / 1981 / 1986 / 1987 / 1992 / 1993 / 1994 / 1996 & 1997.
Williams have in that time given seven drivers their dream of becoming a Formula One World Champion including;
Alan Jones - 1980
Keke Rosberg - 1982
Nelson Piquet - 1987
Nigel Mansell - 1992
Alain Prost - 1993
Damon Hill - 1996
& Jacques Villeneuve - 1997
Williams' record as a team is nothing but impressive with 114 wins, 128 pole positions, 312 podiums and 33 one-twos. A record any team would be happy to hold - sadly it could take some time before Williams can add to this record as they currently struggle for good pace and have done so since 2018 where they have finished bottom of the table for three years in a row. But with Russell and Latifi at the wheel they are slowing pushing the team back to where they belong - at the front.
Similar to Ferrari many drivers dream of racing for Williams and only some can say they have won with the team this includes;
Nigel Mansell - 95 races, 28 wins
Damon Hill - 65 races, 21 wins
Jacques Villeneuve - 49 races, 11 wins
Alan Jones - 60 races, 11 wins
Alain Prost - 16 races, 11 wins
Nelson Piquet - 31 races, 7 wins
Ralf Schumacher - 94 races, 6 wins
Keke Rosberg - 62 races, 5 wins
Juan-Pablo Montoya - 68 races, 4 wins
Ricardo Patrese - 81 races, 4 wins
Carlos Reutemann - 31 races, 3 wins
Thierry Boutsen - 32 races, 3 wins
Clay Regazzoni - 15 races, 1 win
David Coulthard - 25 races, 1 win
Heinz-Harold Frentzen - 33 races, 1 win
Pastor Maldonado - 58 races, 1 win
The question now is who will be the next race winner with Williams?