Frank Williams founded Williams in 1977 after his previous team, Frank Williams Racing Cars, failed to achieve the success he desired. The team was rebranded as Wolf–Williams Racing in 1976. Williams left the rechristened Walter Wolf Racing and moved to Didcot, Oxfordshire to rebuild his team as Williams Grand Prix Engineering. Frank recruited Patrick Head to work for the team, creating the Williams–Head partnership. The team's first race was the 1977 Spanish Grand Prix chassis for Patrick Nève. Williams started manufacturing its own cars the following year, and Clay Regazzoni won Williams's first race at the 1979 British Grand Prix. Williams won nine Constructors' Championships between 1980 and 1997, a record until Ferrari won its tenth championship in 2000.
Williams has worked with many engine manufacturers, most successfully with Renault, winning five of their nine Constructors' titles with the company. The Williams-Honda partnership secured its first and only Drivers' Championship title in 1987 with Nelson Piquet. The team secured Renault as their engine supplier in 1989, which powered Williams's drivers to another four Drivers' and five Constructors' Championships up until Renault's departure from Formula One at the end of 1997. In 1998, the team signed a long-term agreement with BMW to supply engines for a period of 6 years, leading to the signing of Ralf Schumacher. In May 2013, Williams signed a long-term contract with Mercedes to supply engines for the team, providing 1.6-litre V6 turbo engines from the start of the 2014 season.
Notable drivers for Williams include Alan Jones, Clay Regazzoni, Carlos Reutemann, Keke Rosberg, Nelson Piquet, Nigel Mansell, Riccardo Patrese, Thierry Boutsen, Damon Hill, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, David Coulthard, Jacques Villeneuve, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher, Jenson Button, Juan Pablo Montoya, Nico Rosberg, Pastor Maldonado, Valtteri Bottas, George Russell, Carlos Sainz Jr., Alex Albon and Felipe Massa. Of these drivers, Jones, Keke Rosberg, Mansell, Hill, Piquet, Prost, and Villeneuve won the Drivers' title with the team.
Williams also has business interests beyond Formula One. They have established Williams Advanced Engineering and Williams Hybrid Power, who take technology originally developed for Formula One and adapt it for commercial applications. In April 2014, Williams Hybrid Power was sold to GKN. In May 2020, Williams announced they were seeking buyers for a portion of the team due to poor financial performance in 2019 and that they had terminated the contract of title sponsor ROKiT. On 21 August 2020, Williams was acquired by Dorilton Capital. Frank and Claire Williams stepped down from being Manager and Deputy Manager of the team on 6 September 2020, with the 2020 Italian Grand Prix being their last time in their respective positions.
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