From Williams to Williams

Like Ferrari and McLaren, the heritage of the Williams team is pretty pure. They’ve never competed under another name and officially Williams Grand Prix Engineering was established in 1977. But there is a bit more of a back story than that. Frank Williams first entered Formula 1 in 1969 with Piers Courage as his driver. After showing great promise, Courage was killed in 1970 and the team then had a lacklustre time in the early 70s before selling up to Walter Wolf Racing in 1976.

The team went on to win on its debut as a constructor with Jody Scheckter at the wheel in 1977 but by that point Frank Williams had left to set up a new team of his own, Williams Grand Prix Engineering. Williams went on to became one of the most successful constructors of all time with 114 race wins and seven drivers' championships to its name. In late 2020 the business was sold and although Sir Frank stepped down from the management of the team, the legendary Williams name was retained.