Williams Competing, legally referred to as Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, is a British Formula One team and erector. It was started by Frank Williams (1942–-- 2021) and Patrick Head. The team was created in 1977 after Frank Williams's earlier unsuccessful F1 operation, Frank Williams Racing Autos (which later came to be Wolf–-- Williams Competing in 1976). The group is based in Grove, Oxfordshire, on a 60-acre (24 ha) site. The group's very first race was the 1977 Spanish Grand Prix, where the brand-new group ran a March chassis for Patrick Nève. Williams started producing its very own automobiles the following year, and Clay Regazzoni won Williams's initial race at the 1979 British Grand Prix. At the 1997 British Grand Prix, Jacques Villeneuve scored the group's 100th race triumph, making Williams one of only 5 teams in Solution One, together with Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes, and Red Bull Competing to win 100 races. Williams won 9 Builders' Champions in between 1980 and 1997. This was a record till Ferrari won its tenth champion in 2000. Notable drivers for Williams include: Alan Jones, Keke Rosberg, Nigel Mansell, Damon Hillside, David Coulthard, Jenson Button, Juan Pablo Montoya, Alain Prost, Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna, Riccardo Patrese, Valtteri Bottas, Carlos Reutemann, Felipe Massa and Jacques Villeneuve. Of these chauffeurs, Jones, Rosberg, Mansell, Hill, Piquet, Prost, and Villeneuve won the Drivers' title with the team. Of those that have won the champion with Williams, just Jones, Rosberg and Villeneuve defended their title while still with the group; as Piquet transferred to Lotus after winning the 1987 championship; Mansell left F1 to compete in the CART series after winning the 1992 championship, Prost retired after winning the 1993 championship, and Hillside moved to Arrows after winning the 1996 championship. None of Williams's Drivers' Champions took place to win one more champion after their success with Williams. Williams have actually collaborated with lots of engine suppliers, many effectively with Renault, winning five of their 9 Builders' titles with the business. Along with Ferrari, McLaren, Benetton and Renault, Williams is one of a group of five teams that won every Producers' Champion in between 1979 and 2008 and every Drivers' Champion from 1984 to 2008. Williams additionally has organization interests past Formula One. They have developed Williams Advanced Design and Williams Crossbreed Power, who take technology initially established for Formula One and adapt it for business applications. In April 2014, Williams Hybrid Power was sold to GKN. In May 2020, Williams introduced they were seeking customers for a section of the team as a result of poor financial efficiency in 2019 and that they had terminated the agreement of title enroller ROKiT. On 21 August 2020, Williams was obtained by Dorilton Funding. Frank and Claire Williams stepped down from being Supervisor and Deputy Supervisor of the team on 6 September 2020, with the 2020 Italian Grand Prix being their last time in their respective positions.
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