Williams are respected up and down the pit lane for being amongst the smartest operators in Formula 1 - although recent seasons haven't been kind. And Frank Williams and Patrick Head face another season of rebuilding and development as Williams begin their technical partnership with BMW. Williams existed in various forms throughout the late-Sixties and Seventies although it wasn't until the formation of Williams Grand Prix Engineering in 1978 that the team became a serious force. That year coincided with Patrick Head's first design for the team, the FW06, and the results soon began to flow.

However, it wasn't until the FW07 of 1979 that the team really came of age. The car was a superbly effective 'wing car' which used the new underbody aerodynamics pioneered by Lotus the season before. Clay Regazzoni took the team's first race victory in that year's British Grand Prix and from then on Williams would be amongst F1's top echelon. Alan Jones took the world title for the team in 1980 and this triumph was followed by Keke Rosberg repeating the feat in 1982.

Williams needed a turbo engine and so forged a relationship with Honda that would bear fruit over the next few years. The team took constructors' titles in 1986 and 1987 and Nelson Piquet also won the drivers' championship in the latter year.

However, a cloud was cast over the team during this period when Frank Williams was paralysed in car crash in 1986. Honda decided to take their engines to McLaren and Lotus in 1988 and Williams were left temporarily out in the cold. However a deal with Renault rescued the team for 1989, beginning a successful association that would bring nine world championships. Nigel Mansell won the drivers' crown in 1992 with the revolutionary Adrian Newey designed FW14B. The car pioneered active suspension and traction control and caught the rest of the field on the hop.

Alain Prost took a further championship in 1993 although the year afterwards when Prost had left the team tragedy struck when his replacement Ayrton Senna was killed in the San Marino Grand Prix. The way Williams bounced back from this nightmare is typical of the team's resilience.

Damon Hill added to the team's championship victories in 1996 although for his pains he was infamously dumped for Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Jacques Villeneuve took yet another title in 1997 after a controversial battle with Michael Schumacher's Ferrari. However, 1998 saw Williams without Renault and Adrian Newey for the first time in nearly a decade, and results began to suffer.