Frank Williams formed the team after his earlier operation, Frank Williams Racing Cars, failed to achieve results even after being reconstituted as Wolf-Williams Racing in 1976 with Canadian millionaire Walter Wolf. Williams split from that venture, moved to Didcot, and recruited Patrick Head as his engineering partner. The new entity, Williams Grand Prix Engineering, entered its first race at the 1977 Spanish Grand Prix, running a March chassis for Patrick Neve. It failed to score a point that debut season.
For 1978, Patrick Head designed the first true Williams car, the FW06, with Alan Jones as lead driver. The team scored its first constructors' points at the South African Grand Prix and its first podium at the United States Grand Prix. The following year's FW07, a ground-effect car, transformed the team's fortunes: Clay Regazzoni gave Williams its maiden victory at the 1979 British Grand Prix, and Alan Jones added multiple wins. Jones became the team's first Drivers' Champion in 1980, and Williams took its first Constructors' title the same year. A second successive constructors' crown followed in 1981.
Williams partnered with Honda from 1984, deploying turbocharged V6 engines. Keke Rosberg, who had won the 1982 Drivers' title with Williams on a single race victory, departed, while Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet arrived to drive the Honda-powered cars. Piquet won the 1987 Drivers' Championship for Williams, which also secured the constructors' title that year with 137 points. Honda ended the partnership at the season's close.
The team switched to Renault engines for 1989 and entered the most successful period in its history. Adrian Newey joined as designer. Nigel Mansell delivered a record-breaking 1992 championship, winning nine of the sixteen races; Alain Prost took the 1993 title; Damon Hill won in 1996; and Jacques Villeneuve in 1997. The team won the Constructors' Championship in 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, and 1997. The 1994 season was overshadowed by the fatal accident of Ayrton Senna at Imola's Tamburello corner during the San Marino Grand Prix on lap 7, a tragedy that led to a protracted Italian legal process against the team and Frank Williams. Jacques Villeneuve's 1997 title came under dramatic circumstances: at the season finale in Jerez, Michael Schumacher's Ferrari collided with Villeneuve while defending the championship lead; Schumacher was disqualified from second place in the standings, handing the title to Villeneuve by three points. Williams scored its 100th race victory at the 1997 British Grand Prix.
Renault withdrew from Formula One after 1997. Williams ran Mecachrome-badged Renault engines in 1998 and Supertec units in 1999, failing to win a race in either season. A six-year partnership with BMW began in 2000, yielding race wins but no championship. After BMW departed to purchase Sauber, Williams returned to Cosworth in 2006, finishing eighth in the Constructors' Championship with only 11 points. Toyota engines followed from 2007 to 2009, and Cosworth again from 2010 to 2011.
Williams signed a long-term engine supply deal with Mercedes for the 2014 season. The team won the 2014 Austrian Grand Prix pole position — the only time that year Mercedes was beaten to pole — and finished third in the Constructors' standings, a position it repeated in 2015. However, performance again declined. In May 2020, Williams announced significant financial losses and terminated the title sponsorship contract with ROKiT. On 21 August 2020, US investment group Dorilton Capital acquired the team for approximately 152 million euros. Frank Williams and his daughter Claire Williams stepped down from their positions on 6 September 2020, with the 2020 Italian Grand Prix marking their final race in charge. George Russell drove for the team from 2019 to 2021, and Carlos Sainz Jr. raced for Williams before both moved to other teams. By 2026 the team competed as the Atlassian Williams F1 Team.
Among the drivers who raced for Williams are Alan Jones, Carlos Reutemann, Keke Rosberg, Nelson Piquet, Nigel Mansell, Ayrton Senna, Damon Hill, Alain Prost, Jacques Villeneuve, Ralf Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya, Nico Rosberg, Valtteri Bottas, George Russell, and Alex Albon.
Williams is one of only five teams — alongside Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes, and Red Bull Racing — to have won 100 or more Formula One races. The partnership with Patrick Head and, later, designers including Neil Oatley and Adrian Newey made Williams synonymous with technical innovation in the ground-effect and active-suspension eras. Williams Advanced Engineering continues to apply motorsport technology to commercial projects.