By 1979 Williams built a very advanced chassis, although it clearly imitated the ground-effect criteria present in the Lotus 79. The Cosworth engine was also at a great level of development. With these elements, the Williams FW07 was very competitive.
Successes began in mid-1979 at Silverstone, when Clay Regazzoni won Williams' first Formula One victory. The team won a total of 5 Grand Prix, four of them consecutively. Alan Jones won in Germany, Austria, Holland and Canada.
With a view to the 1980 season Williams optimized the car, now called FW07B. One of the major improvements was related to floor and floor effect increase. The FW07B demonstrated reliability and the drivers were able to win six races, 5 for Jones and 1 for Reutemann. Alan Jones was Champion and Carlos Reutemann third, while Williams won his first Constructors Cup.
The 1981 season was good for Williams who won the Constructors Cup again, but not for his drivers. Reutemann and Jones won two races each with the FW07C and placed second and third in the championship respectively. Reutemann lost the championship by one point to Piquet, being boycotted by Frank Williams himself, who did not accept Reutemann not accepting team orders when he beat Jones.
In 1982 Keke Rosberg won a single race with the new FW08, being enough to be a Driver's Champion. The few points accumulated by Rosberg and Derek Daly relegated Williams to fourth place in the Constructors' Cup.
Rosberg secured another victory for Williams in 1983, a discolored season for the team. As a summary of the Williams and Ford partnership, there are 17 races won, two driver titles and two Constructors' Cups.
© Adrián Blanco 2007 - No full or partial reproduction of text and/or images without explicit written consent of the author. —
Lotus 49 Formula 1
Ferrari Formula 1:2000 - 2006 Car Union Renault R25 - R26 Formula 1 Porsche 917 Sauber Mercedes Group C Porsche 956 Porsche 962 Jaguar XJR Prototypes Lancia LC1 and LC2 prototypes Lancia 037 Peugeot 905