New winter livery for Williams at Jerez
In the fourth of a series of winter liveries released to celebrate Williams' 30th year of competing in Formula One, the two FW30s that will run at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit in testing this week will be adorned with numbers that have been notable for the team over the past three decades.
With a number of landmarks due to be passed during the 2008 season, the team's current record by numbers, prior to the start of the new season, is as follows:-
233,787: Kilometres raced
49,634: Laps raced
34,651: Kilometres led
7,470: Laps led
2,552.5: Total points scored
485: Grand Prix contested
295: Podium finishes
216: Races led
129: Fastest Laps
125: Pole positions
113: Victories
68: Races won from pole position
61: Number of locked out front rows, a record
45: Number of victories led from start to finish
33: One – Two victories
24: The number of consecutive poles (1992 – 1993), a record
15: Number of pole positions secured in one season (out of a possible 16), and achieved two years in succession (1992 and 1993), a record shared only with McLaren
12: The highest number of wins claimed in one season (1996)
9: Constructors' Championships
7: Drivers' Championships
7: The highest number of successive wins (1993)
5: Engine partnerships
3: Average Championship position
2: Queen's Award for Export
2: Recognitions for Frank Williams in the Queen's New Year's Honours List. Frank is the only team boss in the paddock to have received a knighthood in the Queen's honours list, which he added to his CBE award collected in 1986
1 and 100: The first and 100th victories were taken at the team's home Grand Prix at Silverstone
1: Frank Williams is the longest serving Team Principal in the sport
The team's corporate history is deemed to have commenced in 1977 when Williams Grand Prix Engineering was formally incorporated, representing the start of the partnership between Frank Williams and Patrick Head. However, in 1977, the team raced a March 761-7 while the first WGPE designed and built car, the FW06, was under development. This first genuine WGPE race car was thus first entered in the Argentine Grand Prix in Buenos Aires for Alan Jones on January 15, 1978. As a consequence, 2008 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the team's Formula One debut. Discounting a number of non-Championship races that the team has contested, such as the 1980 Spanish GP and the 1981 South African GP, Williams will record its 500 GP in Monza this year. If the team completes all racing laps, it will, by Barcelona, record its 50,000 racing lap.
Over its thirty years of Formula One, Williams has enjoyed enduring rivalry with some of the sport's greatest names. The team's record in this company is as follows:-
Williams has won 23.3% of the races it has entered
This record is slightly behind Ferrari (win ratio of 26.5%) & McLaren (24.8%)
60.8% of the races Williams has entered have yielded a podium position
Williams has scored an average of five points every race since 1977
Over 57 years (1950 – 2007) Ferrari has won 201 races. An average of 3.5 wins per annum
Over 44 years (1963 – 2007) McLaren has won 156 races. An average of 3.5 wins per annum
Over 36 years (1958 – 1994) Lotus won 79 races. An average of 2.2 wins per annum
Over 30 years (1977 – 2007) Williams has won 113 races. An average of 3.8 wins per annum