Atlassian Williams F1 Team

Frank Williams founded Williams in 1977 after his previous team, Frank Williams Racing Cars, failed to achieve the success he desired. Despite the promise of a new owner, Canadian millionaire Walter Wolf, and the team's rebranding as Wolf–Williams Racing in 1976, the cars remained uncompetitive. Williams left and moved to Didcot, Oxfordshire, to rebuild as Williams Grand Prix Engineering, recruiting Patrick Head to create the Williams–Head partnership.

Williams entered a March 761 for the 1977 season, with lone driver Patrick Nève competing in 11 races starting with the Spanish Grand Prix. The new team failed to score a point, achieving a best finish of 7th at the Italian Grand Prix. For 1978, Head designed the first Williams car, the FW06. Alan Jones joined the team, scoring the team's first championship points at the South African Grand Prix and its first podium at the United States Grand Prix. Williams finished ninth in the Constructors' Championship with 11 points.

For 1979, Head designed the FW07 — the team's first ground effect car, a technology pioneered by Colin Chapman and Team Lotus. Clay Regazzoni joined Jones. The team's first win came at the British Grand Prix, with Regazzoni finishing 25 seconds ahead. A 1-2 in Germany followed, with Jones winning and Regazzoni second, beginning a run of three consecutive wins for Jones at Germany, Austria, and the Dutch Grand Prix.

The 1980 season brought Williams their first Constructors' Championship with 120 points, nearly twice as many as second-placed Ligier. Jones won five races including the opening race in Argentina, making him the first of seven Williams Drivers' Champions. In 1981, Williams won four races and secured their second consecutive Constructors' Championship. In 1982, Keke Rosberg won the Drivers' title despite winning only one race — the Swiss Grand Prix — making him the second Williams champion. During qualifying for the 1985 British Grand Prix, Rosberg completed a lap at an average speed of 160.938 mph (259.005 km/h) in 1:05.591, the fastest recorded lap in Formula One history at that point.

Williams secured a deal with Honda, using their turbocharged V6 engine from the 1984 season. From 1985 until 1993, Williams ran their famous yellow, blue and white Canon livery. Head designed the FW10 for 1985, the team's first chassis to employ carbon-fibre composite technology pioneered by McLaren; Rosberg won at Detroit and in Australia while Mansell won the European and South African Grands Prix.

In March 1986, Frank Williams was involved in a road accident returning to the airport at Nice, France, after pre-season testing, leaving him paralysed. Despite his absence from the pit lane for almost a year, Williams won nine Grands Prix and the Constructors' Championship. Nigel Mansell came close to the Drivers' title but suffered a left-rear tyre blowout at the final race in Australia while leading, allowing Alain Prost to defend his title in a slower car.

The 1987 season brought Williams its first and only Drivers' Championship title from the Honda partnership, won by Nelson Piquet with 73 points. His teammate Mansell scored six victories and 61 points. Williams won the Constructors' Championship by 61 points over McLaren. Despite this success, Honda ended their partnership with Williams at year's end in favour of McLaren.

Unable to secure a major engine deal, Williams used naturally aspirated Judd engines for 1988, with a significant performance deficit against turbo-powered rivals. The team did not win a race and finished seventh in the Constructors' Championship with 20 points. When Mansell missed two races due to illness, Martin Brundle replaced him in Belgium and Jean-Louis Schlesser in Italy. Schlesser's collision with Ayrton Senna at Monza denied McLaren a clean sweep of race wins that season.

The team secured Renault as their engine supplier for 1989, also bringing in Adrian Newey to replace Frank Dernie. Riccardo Patrese and Thierry Boutsen drove the two Williams-Renaults. Williams scored their first win with the Renault engine at the Canadian Grand Prix, also recording their first one-two, with Boutsen first and Patrese second. Williams finished second in the Constructors' Championship with 77 points, 64 behind McLaren.

In 1991, Mansell returned from retirement at Frank Williams's personal request, having previously spent two turbulent seasons at Ferrari. Williams achieved a 1–2 at the Mexican Grand Prix, with Patrese first and Mansell second. Mansell went on to win in France, Britain, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Williams finished second in the Constructors' Championship, 14 points behind McLaren.

The 1992 season saw Mansell dominate, winning the opening five races — a new Formula One record — and eventually nine races in total. Mansell became World Champion with 108 points, a record for most wins in a single season at the time. Williams won the Constructors' Championship with 164 points, 65 more than second-place McLaren.

For 1993, Prost signed a two-year contract that included a veto power clause for that season; he exercised it to freeze Senna out of Williams. Test driver Damon Hill was promoted to partner Prost. The Williams FW15C featured active suspension and traction control beyond anything available to other teams. Prost won the Drivers' Championship in Portugal, finishing 26 points ahead of Senna, while Williams retained their Constructors' title by 84 points over McLaren. 1993 was the final season Williams ran with Canon as primary backer.

Following Prost's retirement, Williams agreed terms with Senna for 1994 despite the veto power expiring. Pre-season testing showed the FW16 had speed but was difficult to drive; the FIA had banned electronic driver's aids — active suspension, traction control, and ABS — which the Williams chassis had been built around. At the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, Senna took pole but was involved in a fatal crash at the second corner after six laps. Italian prosecutors subsequently charged the team and Frank Williams with manslaughter in an episode not resolved until 2005. After every race, Williams F1 cars carried a Senna 'S' on their livery in his honour and to support the Instituto Ayrton Senna, until the permanent removal beginning in 2022.

After Senna's death, David Coulthard joined Hill as teammate. Hill closed a points gap opened by Michael Schumacher of Benetton to go into the final round at Adelaide separated by a single point. Midway through the race, Schumacher clipped the outside wall and, as Hill attempted to overtake into the next corner, Schumacher turned in; the collision ended both their races, with Schumacher becoming champion. Patrick Head suggested the contact was deliberate. Williams ended the season as Constructors' Champion for the third consecutive year with 118 points.

In 1995, Benetton switched to Renault engines and outscored Williams by 29 points. Schumacher won his second championship while Hill finished second, 33 points behind. In 1996, Williams had the FW18 — quickest and most reliable — winning the first five Grands Prix and the Constructors' Championship. Hill and Villeneuve dominated, with Hill winning the title at the final round in Japan after Villeneuve lost a wheel. Around the same time, Frank Williams announced that Hill would not be re-signed, and Hill joined Arrows for 1997. Adrian Newey, unable to become technical director at Williams due to Head's founder status, was lured away to McLaren.

For 1997, the final season of the Williams-Renault partnership, Heinz-Harald Frentzen replaced Hill. Villeneuve won seven races during the season. At the final round at Jerez, Schumacher and Villeneuve collided on lap 48; Schumacher was disqualified from second place in the championship, with the FIA ruling the accident avoidable. Villeneuve won the Drivers' Championship by three points. Williams retained the Constructors' title with 123 points. Williams also achieved the 100-race-win milestone at the 1997 British Grand Prix.

After 1997, Renault ended their full-time involvement and Adrian Newey moved to McLaren. Williams paid for Mecachrome engines — old, rebadged Renault F1 units — for 1998. The Rothmans livery was replaced by a red Winfield livery. Williams won no races and took only three podiums; Frentzen finished seventh and Villeneuve fifth in the Drivers' Championship.

In 1999, Williams used Supertec (rebadged Mecachrome-Renault) engines with a new driver line-up of Ralf Schumacher and two-time CART champion Alex Zanardi, the team having agreed to loan their test driver Juan Pablo Montoya to Chip Ganassi Racing for two seasons to secure Zanardi. Zanardi failed to finish eleven of sixteen races; Williams finished fifth in the Constructors' Championship — its lowest finish of the 1990s.

Williams entered a long-term agreement with BMW from 2000. The FW23 won four races in 2001, with Ralf Schumacher winning at Imola, Montreal, and Germany, while Montoya won at Monza. The 2002 car won only in Malaysia. At the 2002 Italian Grand Prix qualifying, Montoya lapped at 1:20.264 for an average speed of 161.449 mph (259.827 km/h), breaking Rosberg's 1985 Silverstone record. In 2003, Williams finished second in the Constructors' Championship, two points ahead of McLaren. In 2004, Montoya's final race win for the team came in Brazil, finishing one second ahead of Räikkönen; this remained Williams's last F1 win until the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix. The public deterioration of the Williams-BMW relationship through the 2005 season contributed to BMW buying Sauber instead.

Williams used Cosworth engines in 2006, with Nico Rosberg replacing Heidfeld. The team finished the first race of that season with both drivers scoring points but ultimately finished eighth in the Constructors' Championship — the first time they had not been on the podium all season since their debut in 1977.

Williams reunited with Renault from 2012. At the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix, Pastor Maldonado took his only Grand Prix victory, also Williams's first since 2004. Around 90 minutes later, a fire broke out in the Williams garage, damaging Bruno Senna's car and injuring several people. Williams signed a long-term contract with Mercedes in May 2013 for supply of 1.6-litre V6 turbo engines from 2014.

Under Mercedes power from 2014, Williams enjoyed an upturn in performance, including a double podium in Abu Dhabi and third place in the Constructors' Championship. Felipe Massa won the team's first pole position since 2012 at the Austrian Grand Prix — the only time Mercedes were beaten to pole across that season. The team repeated third place in 2015.

In 2018, Williams scored only 7 points and finished last in the Constructors' Championship. The FW41 was significantly off the pace; the team's highest finish was Stroll's 8th in Azerbaijan.

In May 2020, following significant financial losses in 2019, Williams announced they were seeking buyers and immediately terminated their contract with title sponsor ROKiT. On 21 August 2020, Williams was acquired by Dorilton Capital for €152 million. Frank and Claire Williams stepped down on 6 September 2020, with the 2020 Italian Grand Prix at Monza being their last race in their respective roles — the first time the Williams family had not led the team since its founding 43 years earlier. Williams failed to score a point in the shortened 2020 season, their first pointless season in 44 years.

In June 2021, Williams celebrated their 750th Grand Prix start at the Monaco Grand Prix. At the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix, George Russell qualified second and scored Williams's first podium since the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Williams finished in 8th place in the Constructors' Championship with 23 points. Russell left for the Mercedes works team for 2022, replaced by ex-Red Bull driver Alex Albon.

James Vowles was announced as new Team Principal for 2023, following Jost Capito's resignation. In February 2025, Williams announced a record multi-year title sponsorship with Atlassian and entered the 2025 season as Atlassian Williams Racing. New signee Carlos Sainz Jr. scored Williams's first podium since 2021 at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Near the end of the 2025 season, the team announced it will rebrand as Atlassian Williams F1 Team from 2026 onwards. In January 2026, Williams announced they would miss the pre-season shakedown test due to delays completing the FW48 under the new regulations.

Williams developed the MG Metro 6R4 rally car for Rover in 1984 for Group B rallying, completing the project in just six months. The car used a new mid-mounted V6 engine with four-wheel drive.

Williams entered the British Touring Car Championship in 1995, taking over the works Renault programme. Alain Menu and Will Hoy drove in the first season, with Menu finishing second in the championship. In 1997 — a breakthrough year — Williams won the drivers' championship with Menu, the manufacturers' trophy, and the teams' award, winning 15 of 24 races. The team also competed in the 1997 Bathurst 1000. Williams withdrew from the BTCC after the 1999 season.

Prior to their F1 partnership, Williams Motorsport built the BMW V12 LM and V12 LMR Le Mans Prototypes. The V12 LMR won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1999, driven by Pierluigi Martini, Yannick Dalmas, and Joachim Winkelhock, operated by Schnitzer Motorsport as BMW Motorsport.

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