Although it’s five years since Williams last won a Grand Prix, and 12 since their last championship triumph, it still feels odd not to see their blue-and-white cars regularly at the sharp end of a race. By which I mean leading it by upwards of half a minute.
That was what I got used to growing up with F1 in the 1990s. But Williams’ remarkable story stretched back much further than that, back to more humble origins when, as Frank Williams Racing Cars Ltd, they entered F1 races on a shoestring budget using customer chassis.
The irony that Williams of all teams should have fought so vehemently against customer cars in recent years is just one of the ironies that hits you when reading Maurice Hamilton’s new history of the team.
Another is how Williams is counter-evolving, becoming ever more like its original incarnation. The Frank Williams of the 1960s and 1970s often found himself forced to accept uncompetitive drivers because of the cash injection their sponsors brought. In much the same way the team now fields Kazuki Nakajima because he guarantees a supply of Toyota engines. In the 1980s Williams spurned Kazuki’s father Saturo and, in doing so, lost their Honda supply.
There can be few people better placed than paddock veteran Maurice Hamilton to write a book like this, and he’s secured interviews with dozens of names, big and small, many with fascinating and often hilarious anecdotes to share. Not least the one about Williams briefly selling pornography to get his fledgling racing empire started.
In Hamilton’s own words, he “managed” rather than wrote the book: each chapter begins with his prose and then gives way to long quotes from the people who were. It’s not just the championship winners (all of whom are present) and the big players (Bernie Ecclestone, Patrick Head and, of course, the man himself and his family) but the mechanics who fettled the cars and the lesser-known names that were there at the beginning.
Only one name is conspicuous by its absence: Carlos Reutemann, who departed the team in strange circumstances at the beginning of 1982. Competing theories abound: he was unhappy with Williams or his new team mate Keke Rosberg, disillusioned with F1 after his 11th-hour championship defeat the previous year, or, as others have suggested, put in an uncomfortable position as England and Argentina went to war over the Falkland Islands.
It’s hard to believe the author would have contemplated writing this book without inviting Reutemann to comment and it seems reasonable to assume that, even 27 years later, he’s still not willing to talk about the events.
Compressing the 40-year history of the team into a little more than 350 pages inevitably means some sections are less well-developed than others: the BMW period and the seasons since are among the thinnest.
A substantial section is devoted to the death of Ayrton Senna and it provides some especially interesting new insights from the likes of Adrian Newey and Patrick Head, the latter explaining how the team was incorrectly told Senna’s injuries were much lighter than they were.
I must admit the style “Williams” is written in didn’t gel with me when I first sat down with it – I felt it tended towards repetition. By the final chapters I was flying through the book and now I’ve polished it off I wish there were a second and third volume.
Giving over so much room to the people who were there makes an already fascinating story that bit richer and more compelling. It’s an excellent work – unmissable reading for a fan of the team or, indeed, anyone who’s watched an F1 race in the last four decades.
“Williams: The legendary story of Frank Williams and his F1 team in their own words”
�20
2009
Ebury Press
ISBN 9780091933671
Released 20th August 2009
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IDR
18th August 2009, 7:28
If Kazuki only guarantees Honda engines instead of Toyota ones, should be better to fire him! :-)
Great article, Keith, thanks.
For the question, if you take the flags of each nationality: Team, Engine, Driver and Circuit, the only color in common is: none.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
18th August 2009, 20:11
Got my Nakajimas mixed up :-(
mp4-19b
18th August 2009, 7:30
surely you meant TOYOTA.
Ronman
18th August 2009, 7:49
yeah i noticed that too, but i can understand the mistake. as Kazuki’s father drove for Honda the son now drives for Toyota… a bit strange and confusing i must admit especially when stories go that his dad’s connections got Toyota interested in him in the first place….
gabal
18th August 2009, 7:53
Actually, I think this is common misperception. Williams entered with customer chasis but they would win points for March. They wanted for new startups to start by the same rules they did, not just buy into sucess like Prodrive intended.
Tim
18th August 2009, 8:49
I think it’s less an irony, more a case of times moving on.
When Frank Williams first entered F1, the era where you could buy a customer chassis and go out and win was effectively over – from memory, I think the last F1 race for a customer chassis was Jackie Stewart in a March in 1970 (although it’s debateable because winning Hesketh and Penske designs were both heavily based on the March 761 which both teams had run previously). You could still get customer chassis but they were never particularly competitive.
Williams’ problem with Prodrive was that they’d be running customer McLarens, powered by Mercedes, and supported by the works. Not even Toro Rosso has it that easy, as they’re always having to adapt to a different engine, etc. Prodrive would have had a turnkey operation that was able to run at least as competitively as Williams (probably more so) but for a fraction of the cost.
It was the low cost shortcut to almost instant success that Williams objected to.
Terry Fabulous
18th August 2009, 8:08
Williams were THE F1 team when I started watching. Ferrari were a mess, Mclaren were boring (I know, can you belive it!), Lotus too inconsistent but Frank Williams boys raced and they raced hard!
It is enromously sad that these guys aren’t at the pointy end of the grid, how I wait for their next peak with Nico Hulkenberg behind the wheel.
K
18th August 2009, 12:20
I’m not really a fan of Maurice Hamilton nor Williams, Hamilton is moronic.
Ned Flanders
18th August 2009, 12:55
The Nakajima family really have done their best to ruin Williams. Perhaps in 30 years time they’ll be lumbered with Kasuki Nakajima’s son because he gets them discounted Yamaha engines… or something like that
Smitty
18th August 2009, 14:07
Yamaha engines?! Oh, God!
Aardvark
18th August 2009, 20:27
Kazuki’s little bro’s in F3 now – maybe you’ve identified his route to the top!
Williams 4ever
18th August 2009, 13:50
:-? ??
stjoslin
19th August 2009, 9:15
I didn’t think it was that simple of just taking Saturo or losing their Honda supply in 1988. In 1987 there was other politics involved such as Mansell critising the Honda organisation about prefered treatment or Piquet who was signing for Lotus. Senna signing for Mclaren basically meant that Honda had their two teams and seemed to have fallen our of friends with Williams.
However I have not read the book so I am interested to see what is said around this time.
I am also interested to see if there is anything on the Williams teams thoughts on Benetton being given Renault engines in 1995.
Cannot wait to get my hands on a copy!!
Adam Milleneuve
6th September 2009, 23:34
Keith – you’ve been quoted on F1 Badger! http://www.f1badger.com/2009/09/win-williams/
You’re set for big things now… :)
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
6th September 2009, 23:49
Cool! Make sure you enter guys, it’s a great read.