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Patrick Head, co-owner of the Williams Formula One team, has explained to the media just how close his team came to signing Lewis Hamilton in 2004. It has always been suggested that Lewis was intrinsically close to Ron Dennis and the McLaren team from an early age, but it turns out that father and manager Anthony Hamilton had a falling out with McLaren three years ago and instigated a meeting with Frank Williams and Patrick Head. It appears that BMW were the spoiler at the party, refusing to fund Lewis’s racing obligations before promoting him to the F1 team, all this despite Frank’s glowing assessment of the youngsters talent. Continue Reading

Williams haven’t won a drivers or constructors championship since 1997. Their last win came in Brazil at the end of the 2004 campaign. As the team start their eleventh season of championship drought, the fourth year of victory drought, a lot of hope is being echoed around the grandstands and online forums that this year will see some better performances. Team owners Frank Williams and Patrick Head must surely wondering when the rain of champagne will fall their way again? However, celebrating 30 years in Formula One as well as a few other landmark statistics being met this season, maybe a bit of luck will land on the plucky privateer’s laps. And like the team’s many thousands of fans the world over, I’m hoping the FW30 will be one of great progress and improvement, pushing the team further towards the top on the road to recovery. Continue Reading

Following this mornings subdued roll out of the Williams FW30, the team have released a few more photos detailing various parts of the car and Sam Michael has spoken to the media. Williams hope this new car will be a step forward in performance and help push them closer to the Renaults and BMWs, currently occupying the best of the rest zone behind Ferrari and McLaren. The car’s interim livery is also particularly special, thanking the 519 strong workforce at the team for their support and contribution to the ongoing success of the squad, as well as detailing some of the key sponsors over the 29 years of competition. Continue Reading

As far as launches go, this has to be the lowest-key roll out ever. Williams had stated previously that they weren’t too concerned about not holding an official launch party for their new 2008 challenger, citing reasons of there’s nothing to announce. Nico Rosberg is on a long-term contract, Kazuki Nakajima was confirmed last year, Toyota are still the squad’s engine partner and little else has changed, aside from the car. So instead, Williams opted to simply roll the new FW30 car out of the garage and get on with testing. Which, due to dense fog at Valencia this morning, lasted one lap. Continue Reading

With Williams admitting the shame of 2006 in front of the world’s media at the FW29 launch in February, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the great British team were on a downward spiral and heading for the back of the grid, forever to run around with the Rossos and Spykers. It was a bad year for Williams, and with only a total of 11 points, the tally equaled that of the team’s first season in Formula One back in 1978. However, Williams were once a formidable force in Formula One, and one day they will be again. The signs of improvement have started to appear in winter testing, and the recent partnering with Toyota should be good for the Grove-based squad. So how will they fair in 2007? Let’s take a look at the team and see for ourselves. Continue Reading

Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head, the main men behind Williams, have been due for a comeback for many years now. Since 1997 (read 1996 really), they haven’t shown dominant championship promise. And despite a flutter of wins here and there, the team appear to be lacking confidence and motivation.

I say 1996, the year when Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve dominated the championship, because in my opinion, Williams only managed a title in 1997 due to Mercedes unreliability in the back of the McLaren. And yes, they have won races since with Heinz Harald Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya. But they haven’t really relived the pre-97 times since, despite shaking up the drivers and the team. Continue Reading