Last time out in this thrilling story of Williams Racing we covered 1983 to 1986. This time out we will cover the seasons 1987 to 1991. This spans some serious highs and lows of the team as they attempt to navigate through the ever-changing sport of Formula 1.
1987
The car and the driver lineup remained the same for what would be another great season. The team would win 9 out of the 16 races. This season they would score 18 podiums with four 1-2s. I. In terms of the driver’s standings, Piquet would win by 12 points to Mansell. Williams would dominate in the world constructors winning with 137 points compared to McLarens 76.
However, Williams would lose their star engine supplier, Honda, to McLaren at the end of the season. It became apparent that tensions had risen between the team and the engine supplier. Rumours circulated over Honda being frustrated by Williams’s decision not the honor the first driver position that Piquest held. There was also a change in direction with the driver lineup.
It was rumoured that Honda was unhappy that Mansell was picked over the preferred Satoru Nakajima in 1986. Both these things combined led to Honda leaving the contract a year early. Piquet would also leave the team despite winning the driver’s championship to Loutus, a Honda-backed team.
Teammate tensions were high when it became apparent that either Piquet or Mansell would win the driver’s championship. It came down to the final few races of the season until Mansell crashed with a couple of rounds left essentially giving a huge advantage to Piquet.
1988
Embed from Getty ImagesWilliams would hit turmoil. A change in engines would prove fatal. The team would FALL down the championship standings. Mansell would stay at the team, unaware of what was to come. Piquet would be replaced by Riccardo Patrese. He had experience in F1 racing for the likes of Brabham and Arrows.
It became very apparent that the season was destined for disaster. In pre-season, the car was described as “pathetically slow” in a straight line by both drivers. To make the pain so much worse, the Honda engine for McLaren would be incredibly dominant. They would win every race apart from 1 in Italy of which Ferrari would win.
The team would also bring their re-invented “active suspension” called Williams Reactive Ride. However, air getting into parts of the hydraulics makes the ride of the car unpredictable. The weight of the computer would also add more of a problem to the car.
The computer would draw power away from an already weak engine. This resulted in the intended effect of the system to be quite the opposite.
Despite Williams’s problems in a straight line, Mansell qualified 2nd in Brazil. Very surprising. Williams would reach a top speed of around 165 mph while Honda-backed teams McLaren and Lotus would reach 180 mph. Both cars would retire due to engine issues.
Mansell would only finish 2 races in the entire season, both in second place. Patrese despite finishing more races, would not finish in the points enough to beat Mansell and thus only scored 8 points.
The team would finish a very sorry 7th place with just 20 points. Disappointed and embarrassed, Williams would take a risk and go for the new Renault engine for the next season. Mansell would leave the team as well, no blaming, and join Ferrari.
1989
A sigh of relief may have happened at the end of this season in comparison to the last. Patrese would remain at the time while Thierry Boutsen would replace Mansell. To spark rumours at the start of the season, James Hunt test-drove the car in a secret test. But it was confirmed he would not return to the car.
The car showed signs of potential from the start with Patrese scoring a second-place spot on the grid in Brazil until he retired despite leading the race. The team’s first podium would come in round 4. Patrese would score 2nd place in Mexico. He would go on to finish 2nd three times in a row and then 3rd place after that. In terms of the team’s first win, that would come at the hands of Boutsen in Detroit. This would be Williams’s first 1-2 in over a year.
The car would be replaced with a new model by round 13 after scoring 2 more podiums both at the hands of Boutsen. The new car would be great scoring a podium for each driver in both races it finished. Two third-place finishes, one second-place and another win for Boutsen. All these results combined meant the team finished a much improved 2nd place with 77 points.
Embed from Getty Images1990
The driver lineup would remain the same. Frank Williams wanted and very much tried to get the infamous Alian Prost to drive for the team this season. He would be picked Ferrari and join Mansell. The car was updated with new side pods and suspension. The engine too was updated. It was reported the car was the fastest on the grid but lacked the consistency to be a real challenger.
The team would retire 10 times across the season, Boutsen with 6 and Patrese with 4. The car scored 2 wins, 1 each and 3 podiums overall. The team would have a fairly mediocre season finishing 4th in the constructors. This would prompt a change in the direction of car set-up for the team. Patrick Head identified that the set-up should be more liberal and adaptive to driver needs rather than just giving the drivers a car.
1991
The iconic blue yellow and white continue to be the team’s livery. Something that did change would be the driver lineup. Well technically. Mansell would return to the team, despite his impending retirement, alongside Patrese.
He would drive a car designed by a certain Adrian Newey. The car was a technical masterpiece but lacked the consistency needed to really be the best on the grid. In the later stages of the season, this became apparent when the team ran in a winning position but could not finish the race.
The season would start slow with Mansell not finishing the first 3 races. Patrese would also not finish the first race but would get 2nd in Brazil. He would then go on to not finish at the following rounds in Monaco or Canada. By Canada Mansell had finally finished a race and was in second place. By round 6 the team had found themselves again. Patrese won the Mexican Grand Prix with Mansell in second.
The next round in France Mansell would win and would go on a 3 race win streak. By then, in round 9, Williams would be leading the constructors by 1 point to McLaren. Mansell would be second in the drivers with Patrese in third. From round 9 onwards the team would either finish on the podium or not finish the race bar Patrese in round 16.
By round 14 Williams were still leading the constructors with just 1 point. Just two rounds to go. Would the team hold on and score yet another World Constructors championship?
Round 15 in Japan and an early exit by Mansell would give McLaren an 11-point lead. This was not helped by a Mclaren 1-2. By the final round in Australia, it was confirmed that Williams would stay in second place. Mansell would finish 2nd and Patrese in third behind Senna. The revival was on, and Williams was back and fighting.
Embed from Getty ImagesThat concludes this week’s instalment. sorry about the delay from the last as I had exams. The usual schedule should resume,
Image Credit: Stuart Seeger from San Antonio, Texas, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons