16 interesting facts about Williams, the once-dominant F1 team

File picture: Bryn Lennon/Pool via Reuters.

File picture: Bryn Lennon/Pool via Reuters.

Published Sep 4, 2020

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LONDON - It’s the end of a Formula One era following the announcement this week that Claire Williams will step down after Sunday's Italian Grand Prix.

This follows the sale of the team to US-based Dorilton Capital, the former champions announced on Thursday.

Williams, officially the deputy to her 78-year-old father Frank who no longer attends races and is also leaving, effectively ran the British-based team whose sale was announced last month.

The once-dominant but now-struggling team has not won a grand prix since 2012 and is currently last and without a single point.

The family's departure marks the end of an era after 43 years and 739 Grands Prix.

Below are some interesting facts about the team’s history:

1979: First race win, at the British Grand Prix with Swiss driver Clay Regazzoni.

1980: First world championship, a drivers' and constructors' double with Australian Alan Jones.

1981: Second constructors' title.

1982: Finland's Keke Rosberg, father of 2016 champion Nico, wins the drivers' title despite having only one race victory.

1986: Third constructors' title. Frank Williams is injured in a car accident after testing in the south of France, damaging his spinal cord and becoming tetraplegic.

1987: Williams returns to the helm after his accident. Title double with Brazilian Nelson Piquet.

1992: Title double with Britain's Nigel Mansell after a dominant year with the team taking 10 wins and 15 poles.

1993: Title double with Frenchman Alain Prost

1994: Brazilian triple champion Ayrton Senna dies in a crash at Imola. Williams end the season as constructors' champion.

1995: The team moves to its current factory at Grove.

1996: Title double with Britain's Damon Hill. The team wins all but four races and score more than twice as many points as runners-up Ferrari. Hill then leaves.

1997: Title double with Canadian Jacques Villeneuve, the team's last crowns.

2012: Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado wins the Spanish Grand Prix, the team's most recent victory, from pole position.

2013: Claire Williams appointed deputy principal, taking over day-to-day running of the team.

2018: Williams is 10th with seven points

2019: Williams is again 10th, this time with one point

Reuters

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