Origins of Williams Racing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCiwg9QJywU video link.

What did I learn from this video?

 Frank Williams was 19 when he first started racing with his own car at Mallory Park.

Set up his own team in 1969 and entered in F1

Following in the footsteps of lotus and Cooper. Teams formed by Motorsport Enthusiasts and raced in Formula One series.

Teams created by Motorsport Enthusiasts "grew odds" with factory teams like Ferrari, "prompting" the likes of Enzo Ferrari to call them "Garagistes". 

At one point Frank Williams ran the team from a Phone Box, calling suppliers and sponsorships,  after the phones at the factory were cut due to unpaid bills.

In 1976 Frank Sold his team to Canadian Businessman Walter Wolf and Frank was sacked as Team Principle. The new team Wolf Racing won on their debut in 1977 at the Argentine Grand Prix.

The news of Wolf racing winning a race hit Frank Williams.

Frank Williams then went into Business with young engineer Patrick Head.

Frank and Patrick both had the same view point of a no nonsense approach.

They used the money from the sale of the Wolf F1 team to fund and start up a new team, Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited. They started with only 17 staff and set up in a old Carpet Warehouse in Oxfordshire. The team had to break into their own factory because they didn't have the door keys just to start work ready for the upcoming season.

It was labelled as a perfect partnership as Frank Williams organised the team and secured new sponsorship deals from the middle east, where Patrick Head was the "Creative Force behind Williams" and secured success in their first race car, The Cosworth-powered FW06. Under Patricks leadership, the team brought a Wind Tunnel as he and Frank Durney developed their understanding of ground effect aerodynamics.

At the 1979 British Grand Prix, the brand new Williams FW07 stunned the Paddock with its incredible grip, aerodynamics and speed achieved through modifications to the cars underside. During that weekend they secured their first Pole with Allen Jones and  Clay Regatzoni drove the at to victory on race day. On this day "all of a sudden the team from a carpet factory were genuine title contenders".

In 1980 Jones won Five Grand Prix and also won the drivers championship. This also secured the teams maiden formula one constructors championship. According to Frank Williams, he quoted it as "the best feeling in the world". 

Frank Williams and Patrick Head won a second constructors Championship in 1981and Keke Rosberg took the drivers championship in 1982.

Ahead of the 1986 season disaster struck. Frank Williams, in his forties, still drove the same way he did as a teenager, "Fast and right on the limit" . As he headed from Pre-Season Testing in Paul Ricard to Nice Airport, Frank lost control behind the wheel. His injuries from the accident were life-threatening and his wife Ginny fought to keep him alive, at one point convincing doctors not to turn off his life support machine. Now paralyzed from the neck down, Frank focused on his recovery as Patrick Head lead Williams into that years season. Frank returned to the paddock at the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch. After Nigel Mansell led Nelson Piquet to a perfect Williams 1-2, Ginny herself stepped up to the podium to Collect the Constructors trophy on behalf of  the Team.

Under the leadership of Patrick Head, Williams often lead the grid in engineering creativity, the cutting edge work of chief designer Frank Durney in the Wind Tunnel alongside a young Ross Braun helped propel the now Honda Powered Williams to Back-to-Back constructors Crowns in the mid 80s and Nelson Piquet won the title in 1987. In 1990, head hired prodigious aerodynamicist Adrian Newey and Frank Durney designed the ground-breaking FW14b

How will I use this research? What else do I need to know?

This research has allowed me to develop my knowledge on this specific side of formula one, how the teams operate as a business and the fact that there is a lot of money involved. This research will be used in my dissertation to explain the history of Williams and compare to any future chance of another team under similar circumstances could find success in the sport.

To further develop my research, I could do with researching about how other big teams like Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes to compare how different teams started and made ground in the sport.