His 1997 championship win came in the FW19, the fourth most-dominant Williams ever in terms of raw pace. PLUS: Villeneuve on 1997 and the regrets that followed As a rookie in 1996 he pushed more experienced team-mate Damon Hill hard, while there were some fine performances in the less-than-brilliant FW20 in 1998 before the move to BAR that signalled the end of his spell as an F1 top-dog. Perhaps ironically, Villeneuve’s least impressive season at Williams was the one in which he became world champion. Villeneuve remains the last Williams world champion, breaking through in 1997 In the end, the Williams-BMW-Michelin-Montoya package was not enough to halt the Ferrari-Schumacher-Bridgestone steamroller, but it got closer than most in the first half of the 2000s.Īrchive: How Williams's last F1 title challenge unravelled Montoya was far from error free, but he was fast and aggressive – and got himself into the title fight in 2003 before being scuppered by a penalty in the United States GP thanks to an incident with Rubens Barrichello. He proved as much with his daring pass of Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari for the lead of the 2001 Brazilian GP, just his third F1 start.
#The weeknd takes his drivers test driver#
Montoya was also the more exciting, perhaps more akin to the sort of driver Williams always favoured. Separating Ralf Schumacher and Montoya for this list was tough, but the Colombian scored more points (221 to 173) and more poles (11 to six) during their time together, though the German took more wins (six to four). Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images 8. Montoya's swashbuckling style endeared him to many, as did his ambushing of Schumacher at Interlagos in only his third race in 2001 But his six wins make him the seventh most successful Williams F1 driver, more than any other non-champion. Things got tougher alongside Juan Pablo Montoya as their time together wore on and Schumacher’s 2004 campaign was ruined by his Indianapolis crash. PLUS: How BMW took Williams to the brink of F1 glory and back
He also beat impressive rookie Jenson Button during their year together in 2000 and scored Williams’s first GP win for nearly four years at Imola the following season, one of three victories in 2001. Ralf consistently challenged the faster McLarens and Ferraris, was unfortunate not to win the European GP and comfortably put his highly rated Indycar champion team-mate Alex Zanardi in the shade.
It’s sometimes forgotten how good Michael Schumacher’s brother was at times for Williams, particularly during his brilliant first campaign with the team in 1999. Schumacher ended a three-year drought for Williams by winning the 2001 San Marino GP
While Mansell swept to the title with nine wins, Patrese scored just one and only narrowly held off Michael Schumacher and Senna for second in the championship. He was never as comfortable in the traction control, active suspension-boasting FW14B in 1992. Patrese nevertheless finished a fine third in the drivers’ standings. He brilliantly led the wet San Marino GP and won in Mexico before Mansell came on strong and took the fight to McLaren’s Ayrton Senna. PLUS: The key Williams mistakes behind missing 1991 title glory Mansell returned but Patrese consistently had the edge in qualifying in the early stages of the campaign, as the FW14 became a real threat to McLaren. Patrese and new team-mate Thierry Boutsen were evenly matched and both won races, Patrese taking the 1990 San Marino GP.īut perhaps he was never more impressive than in 1991. The Judd-powered FW12 was not a Williams classic and suffered poor reliability, but things started to look up when Renault engines arrived in 1989. PLUS: The mystery capitulation that denied F1’s ultimate enigma 1981 title gloryĪfter a one-off subbing for the injured Nigel Mansell in the 1987 Australian GP, Patrese joined the Briton at Williams full-time the following season. He also didn’t walk out on the squad two races into a campaign, as Reutemann did in 1982… Williams years: 1987 (final race), 1988-92Ĭarlos Reutemann and Patrese were very close for this 10th spot, but the Italian gets the nod due to his longevity with the team and the fact he took four world championship grand prix wins for Williams compared to the Argentinian’s three. Patrese hit fine form in 1991 and had the upper-hand on Mansell early in the year, delivering a convincing win in Mexico It doesn’t count their achievements at other teams. That makes selecting the top 10 Williams F1 drivers a challenge.įor this list we’ve taken into account the amount of success the drivers scored with Williams, the impact they had on the team and the circumstances of their time there.
Top 10: Ranking the greatest Williams F1 cars
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