AT&T WILLIAMS FORMULA 1 TEAM OFFICIAL EAR PLUGS IN CASE

After a long apprenticeship in lower categories of motor sport, Frank Williams and Patrick Head's alliance commenced in 1977 and has been one of sport's enduring relationships. With a staff of only 17, the company's first true collaboration was the Head-designed FW06, financed by a portfolio of Saudi Arabian sponsors recruited by Williams. With dependable finance and a competitive race car, the final part of the jigsaw for the embryonic team was the recruitment of the talented Australian driver, Alan Jones. The FW06 was a strong first foray into Formula One for the partnership, and claimed a second place in the 1978 US Grand Prix.

1979 marked Williams Grand Prix Engineering's first significant milestone. Jones was joined in the team by the Swiss driver, Clay Regazzoni, and the pair showed strongly in the team's home race at Silverstone. When Jones disappointingly retired from the lead, Regazzoni went on to claim the British team's inaugural victory. Jones picked up the baton and went on to win a further four GPs during the remainder of the season. Jones carried the team into the 1980's, claiming both the Constructors' and Drivers' World Championships in the first year of the decade. Jones was not quite able to repeat the feat in 1981, but the team did claim its second Constructors' title.

The following season, Williams' Champion, Alan Jones decided to stand down and retire, and his berth in the team was picked up by the charismatic Finn, Keke Rosberg. Rosberg carried the team's fortunes in 1982, and although a third consecutive Constructors' title was denied the team, Rosberg claimed the Drivers' silverware.

1983 marked the start of Williams' association with its first true engine supplier, Honda. In a bid to stay on level terms with the emerging manufacturer teams, it was essential that Williams availed itself of the nascent turbo technology. In the last race of the year at Kyalami in South Africa, the partnership with the Japanese engine maker broke cover, and although 1983 and 1984 were learning years, the team claimed its first win with Honda in Dallas on July 8, 1984, and meanwhile had moved to a state-of-the-art new facility just a mile from their original home in Didcot.

The following year Rosberg was joined by Nigel Mansell to campaign the first carbon-chassis race car designed by Patrick Head, the FW10. The season was a portend of what was to come, with both drivers sharing four race wins. By 1986, the Williams-Honda partnership on paper was adjudged to be the pick of the bunch, but the high expectations for the season ahead were cruelly interrupted when Team Principal, Frank Williams, sustained devastating injuries as the result of a road accident when returning from a pre-season test session at the Paul Ricard circuit in France. While Frank convalesced in hospital, the former Brazilian World Champion, Nelson Piquet, joined the squad and together with Mansell, the pair claimed nine GP wins and earned Williams its fifth World title. In spite of now being confined to a wheelchair, Frank Williams returned to work to head his eponymous organisation.

The riches continued unabated in 1987, with Piquet claiming another Drivers' crown, while Mansell played the bridesmaid for the second year in succession, but nevertheless made a substantial contribution to the team's fourth FIA Formula One World Constructors' Championship. The driver pairing of Mansell and Piquet produced one of the most unrelenting spars in the sport's history, and Williams' reluctance to intervene and impose team orders on the pair is a testament to the team's commitment to truly competitive racing. Having established itself as the most successful team of the decade by 1987, the team's fortunes were due to taper significantly with the departure of engine supplier, Honda, who defected to McLaren at the end of the season. Williams was forced to fall back on a purchased supply of normally aspirated Judd engines, while suffering from the double blow of losing its champion, Nelson Piquet, to Team Lotus.

The regroup in 1988 involved signing the experienced Italian, Riccardo Patrese, and marshalling resources for the medium term. Part of this strategy came to fruition in July 1988 when the company signed a three year deal with Renault for the exclusive supply of their new V10 engines. By 1989, Head had developed the FW13 purposely for the new French engine, and Mansell's replacement, Thierry Boutsen, scored Williams-Renault's first race win in Canada, and by the end of the year, the team was back to a more familiar second place in the Constructors' table.

The 1990 season started well, although ultimately did not mark an improvement over the previous year, but in a twist of fate Mansell was back in the cockpit of a Williams by November of that year to test the FW13B in preparation for racing for the team the following year. In '91 Mansell and Patrese took the fight to McLaren and, although the team came off second best, they scored seven race wins on the way. From the one-two finish at the start of the following season in South Africa, the team romped to a record season in which Mansell won the first five races of the year, concluding his season tally with nine GP victories and 14 pole positions. Patrese followed Mansell in the Drivers' table, and Renault won their first Constructors' title in convincing fashion.

The exercise was compellingly repeated in 1993 in partnership with Renault, albeit with Alain Prost and Damon Hill piloting the FW15C to ten Grand Prix wins. When Prost, the reigning World Champion announced his retirement at the end of the season, it left the door open for the racing legend, Ayrton Senna, to join the team.

In the third race of the season at Imola in Italy, Senna's car left the track at the notorious Tamburello corner, crashing into a concrete retaining wall at high speed. The Brazilian ace was killed, and the shock waves reached far beyond Formula One. The team was left devastated, and as a mark of respect, only one car was entered for the following race in Monaco.

For the remainder of the season, Damon Hill was partnered by the team's test driver, David Coulthard, apart from occasional appearances by Nigel Mansell who raced in four Grands Prix between his Indy Car commitments in the USA. In such a tragic year, it was testimony to the resilience of the team that they retained their Constructors' title. Coulthard's mature performance during the maelstrom of the 1994 season earned the young Scot a full time seat for 1995, partnering Damon Hill. The Renault-powered pairing claimed five victories and Hill was the only genuine threat to Michael Schumacher who claimed the Drivers' Championship.

The winter of 1995 also marked the start a major relocation of the team's headquarters to new, purpose built facilities some ten miles distant at Grove. The new factory was formally opened by HRH The Princess Royal on 29th October 1996. Jacques Villeneuve joined the team for 1996 and was to prove Damon Hill's sternest challenger for the Drivers' title. The pair shared 12 race wins, and although Williams claimed the Constructors' title by the Hungarian GP, the decider in the Drivers' Championship was the season's final race at Suzuka. In the event, Hill prevailed, and was crowned champion.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen partnered Villeneuve in 1997, and the Canadian, who had come so close to winning a title in his rookie year, made up for the disappointment by beating Michael Schumacher to the silverware in the final race of the season at Jerez in Spain. The year also marked Williams' 100th Grand Prix win, coincidentally recorded at the scene of their very first Formula One victory some 18 years before at Silverstone.

1998 marked another watershed with a wholesale change in technical regulations, the departure of design guru Adrian Newey and Renault's withdrawal from Formula One. Reliant on badged Mecachrome / Supertec engines lacking a full development programme, the team struggled but was buoyed by the signing of a major new collaboration with BMW. Into 1999, the team fielded new drivers Ralf Schumacher and Alex Zanardi, but was still hampered by the profound changes that had impacted the team in 1998.

The new millennium was ushered in with the promise of the new partnership with BMW. Ralf Schumacher stayed with the team, but Zanardi gave way for Jenson Button, and in the debut season for the new Anglo-German partnership, they finished the year in an extremely creditable third place in the Constructors' Championship.

2001 marked a stride up the expectation curve with Schumacher partnered by the ebullient Colombian, Juan Pablo Montoya. Schumacher claimed the partnership's first race win in San Marino, and went on to claim a further two victories during the season. Rookie Montoya, bursting with the promise of sensational achievements in the US CART series had to wait until the Italian Grand Prix to claim his maiden race win, but the season was a tangible step forward from the initial collaboration between WilliamsF1 and BMW in 2000.

2002 promised much, with technical regulation stability, a retained driver line-up, and BMW promising to provide the best engine in the pit lane. Despite an early season win in Malaysia for Schumacher, the season proved to be a hard battle with a potent Ferrari team. However, the season was not without its milestones, including seven pole positions for Montoya, who also broke one of WilliamsF1's long standing Formula One records for the fastest ever lap speed set by Keke Rosberg in an FW10 at Silverstone some 17 years prior. The team finished the season as runners up in the Constructors' Championship, another step on from their record of the previous season.

Despite a disappointing start to the 2003 season, the team's fortunes turned upon entering the European rounds. With a much-improved FW25, Juan Pablo Montoya stormed to victory at Monaco, breaking the team's 20-year nemesis on the streets of Monte Carlo. Success for Ralf followed shortly afterwards, with the German leading his team-mate to a one-two victory at the Nürburgring and again one week later at Magny-Cours. Juan Pablo secured the fourth, and final, victory for the team on BMW's home soil at Hockenheim.

With an unmatched reliability record, and both cars scoring points in 12 out of the 16 races, the Constructors' Championship was only resolved at the last race of the season at Suzuka. Although the team ended the season second to Ferrari, the deficit was considerably smaller than that in 2002, the Anglo-German partnership was only 14 points shy of its first Championship title.

The fifth season of alliance between WilliamsF1 and BMW promised much, but was beset with misfortune, including disqualifications in North America and a major accident for Ralf Schumacher at Indianapolis. At the same time, the team undertook major mid-season revisions to the FW26, and as some late consolation, found a vein of competitive form as the season closed, with a swansong win for Montoya in Brazil which crucially helped the team finish the year ahead of main rivals, McLaren Mercedes.

The team broke cover in 2005 with an all new driver line up of Mark Webber and Nick Heidfeld, who both managed to score a handful of podium finishes for the team in a year that was turbulent, both on and off the track. A lack of early season competitiveness of the Williams BMW FW27 prompted one of the most unprecedented development programmes in the team's history. No less than 100 new aero components were brought to the car which generated a 14% increase in downforce at the season's close, contributing to fifth place in the Constructors' standings.

A new chapter in the team's history started in 2006. Williams arrived at the opening round of the season as a fully independent squad once again, with a new engine supplied by Cosworth, three new drivers in Nico Rosberg, Alex Wurz and Narain Karthikeyan, and with a new tyre supplier, Bridgestone. With such formidable competition from the big-budgeted manufacturer teams, however, the races brought few causes for celebration, the highlight perhaps being Nico Rosberg setting a new record for the youngest ever driver to set a fastest lap during a race, which he achieved on his maiden outing in Bahrain.

Away from the track, work continued apace on the conclusion of significant strategic challenges facing the company. By the end of the year, the team had successfully secured a multi-year engine agreement with Toyota and a new title sponsorship with telecommunications giant, AT&T, from the start of 2007. The team's future in Formula One was also secured following the conclusion of a highly complex and difficult commercial agreement with FOM, the manufacturers and the other teams that will see Williams continue its long history in the sport from 2008 and beyond.

The 2007 season marked the debut of the team's partnership with engine giant, Toyota, and title sponsor, AT&T, as well as return to racing for Alex Wurz following his winter promotion. Alex joined Nico Rosberg in the race seats, while Narain Karthikeyan and rising Japanese star, Kazuki Nakajima fulfilling testing responsibilities. In a season dominated by some of the closest on-track competition seen in recent years, the AT&T Williams team concluded the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship with a rewarding fourth place in the Constructors' standings in their 30th year in the sport. The team dramatically improve its performance in every area in 2007, from the scoreboard to the drawing office. The performance incremental was most keenly demonstrated by the tripling of its World Championship points, from 11 in 2006 to 33 in 2007, but also by a 60% uplift in reliability as well as by a demonstrable improvement in race pace by the end of the season.