Through the Past Briefly

With Sir Frank Williams as our interview subject this month, we thought it might be a good idea to send you even deeper into the Williams Grand Prix world by delving into the history of the F1 operation on the team’s web site. While the menu bar for the rest of the site will, should you decide to go exploring, take you around the world in a number of technical, commercial and social categories, our specified link opens to a page called “Our Heritage” upon which can be found year-by-year recaps of the team’s doings during its more than three decades in the FIA’s Formula One World Championship. Just select a year and click to access the relevant information.

For instance, you can start with the team’s first year of 1977 and discover, among other things, that Sir Frank actually started his business career as a salesman for Campbell Soup. Or, perhaps by looking at the team’s first championship season of 1980 you can read about the undergarment proclivities of title-winning driver Alan Jones. From 1992, there are details of the active-ride FW14B that remains perhaps the most technically sophisticated racing car of all time. Other similar nuggets lurk within each of the individual seasons to amuse and enlighten you, so go have a look.