Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, competing in 2026 as Atlassian Williams F1 Team, is a British Formula One team and constructor. It was founded by Frank Williams and Patrick Head. The team was formed in 1977 after Frank Williams's earlier unsuccessful F1 operation, Frank Williams Racing Cars (which later became Wolf–Williams Racing in 1976). The team is based in Grove, Oxfordshire, on a 24 ha site.

Frank Williams founded Williams in 1977 after his previous team, Frank Williams Racing Cars, failed to achieve the success he desired. Despite the promise of a new owner, Canadian millionaire Walter Wolf, and the team's rebranding as Wolf–Williams Racing in 1976, the cars still were not competitive. Eventually, Williams left the rechristened Walter Wolf Racing and moved to Didcot, Oxfordshire to rebuild his team as Williams Grand Prix Engineering. Frank recruited Patrick Head to work for the team, creating the Williams–Head partnership.

ford-cosworth engines (1977–1983)

fw06

The Williams FW06 was the first car produced by the combination of Frank Williams and Patrick Head for their Williams Grand Prix Engineering Formula One team. As was the standard arrangement for the many small British garagiste teams, the car was powered by the Cosworth DFV 3.0 litre V8 engine.

After a season running a customer March chassis in 1977 with limited results, just as in 1975 Frank Williams decided on a completely independent car for the new season. The FW06 was Patrick Head's first full F1 design. Inspired by the shortcomings of the March and his quick fix improvements done to the FW04 he took no chances and penned a simple and light car that handled well. It had a conventional design but was as tightly packaged as possible. As was normal at the time, some parts for the car were not bespoke items, but bought off the shelf. For example the radiators were sourced from a Volkswagen Golf. However reliability was an issue to begin with.

Williams finished ninth in the constructors' championship in 1978, matching the best performance by the team in its first incarnation achieved in 1975.

fw07  fw07b  fw07c  fw07d

The Williams FW07 was a ground effect Formula One racing car designed by Patrick Head, Frank Dernie, and Neil Oatley for the 1979 Formula One season. Developed versions of the car were further used in the 1980, 1981 and 1982 seasons. It was the first car that won a championship for Williams Racing when it won both the Drivers' and Constructors' in 1980.

It was closely based on the Lotus 79, even being developed in the same wind tunnel at Imperial College London. Some observers, among them Lotus aerodynamicist Peter Wright felt the FW07 was little more than a re-engineered Lotus 79, just having a stiffer chassis. The car was small and simple and extremely light, powered by the ubiquitous Ford Cosworth DFV.

The FW07 became FW07B in 1980, and Alan Jones, now with Carlos Reutemann, developed the FW07 further, working especially on setup and suspension strengthening. The car was now so efficient in creating downforce from its ground effect design that the front wings were unnecessary.

The FW07B evolved into the FW07C for 1981, and further work was done to the suspension, especially after the FIA banned the moveable skirts needed for effective ground effect. 

The FW07D was an experimental six-wheeled test car (four driven rear wheels, and two undriven front wheels) tested by Alan Jones on a single occasion at the Donington Park circuit. With the FW07D proving the concept, its unique design was incorporated into the six-wheeled FW08B.

honda engines (1983–1987)

fw09  fw09b

The Williams FW09 was a Formula One car designed by Frank Dernie and Neil Oatley. It was the first Williams chassis to be powered by a turbocharged Honda V6 engine, for which Frank Williams negotiated a deal towards the end of 1982 and the beginning of 1983.

Honda was already supplying the small Spirit team for 1983, but was enthusiastic about supplying Williams, who not only had the reigning World Champion Keke Rosberg as lead driver, but were one of the leading constructors in Formula One who had previously won both the Drivers' and Constructors titles on two occasions, a résumé that neither Spirit nor their young Swedish driver Stefan Johansson could match. Williams had agreed to help develop the engine under Grand Prix race conditions. Spirit folded shortly afterwards.

The chassis was built from aluminium with carbon fibre used at stress points and was based on the reasonably successful 1983 Williams FW08C. The engine cover had to be redesigned as the car was powered by a smaller, but more powerful (850 bhp ) V6 engine rather than the 530 bhp Cosworth V8 that powered the FW08C.

A modified version of the car dubbed the FW09B was introduced in Round 10 of the season at Brands Hatch for the 1984 British Grand Prix. The car featured 'coke bottle' type sidepods pioneered by McLaren. The FW09 was retired following the 1984 season. It was replaced in 1985 by the all carbon fibre and more successful Williams FW10.

fw11  fw11b

The Williams FW11 is a Formula One car designed by Frank Dernie for the Williams team. The original FW11 was used in the 1986 Formula One World Championship while an updated version, the FW11B, was used in the 1987 Championship. In both years, the car was powered by a Honda 1.5-litre turbocharged V6 engine, and driven by Briton Nigel Mansell and Brazilian Nelson Piquet.

The original FW11 won nine races of the 1986 Championship, with both Mansell and Piquet challenging for the Drivers' title before dramatically losing out to Alain Prost in his McLaren in the final race of the season in Australia. The FW11B won nine races of the 1987 Championship, and Piquet won the Drivers' title despite winning fewer races than Mansell. In both years, Williams comfortably won the Constructors' title.

The FW11B was the last Williams car with a turbocharged engine until the FW36 in 2014.

The FW11 was not a technical showcase by any means, but solid engineering, exceptional aerodynamics, the engine's outright power and superior fuel economy (even better than the TAG-Porsche engines used by McLaren), and Piquet and Mansell helped the car take 18 wins, 16 pole positions and 278 points over two seasons of racing.

judd engines (1988)  

fw12

1988

The Williams FW12 was a Formula One racing car used by the Williams team for the 1988 season. An updated version, the FW12C, was used for 12 of the 16 races of the 1989 season. The FW12 was Williams's first naturally aspirated car since the FW08 and FW08C used in the 1982 and 1983 season.

In its original guise the FW12 featured a Judd CV 3.5 V8. In 1988 the car was unsuccessful for Williams after two years of domination with the FW12's predecessor, the FW11 and FW11B, through use of the V6 Honda turbo engine.

The Judd V8, in its first year of F1 competition, was only developing some 600 bhp (447 kW; 608 PS), which resulted in the car being sluggish, and accounted for its lack of straight line speed.

After winning the Formula One Constructors' Championships in both 1986 and 1987 and the Drivers' Championship with Piquet in 1987, Williams dropped to seventh in the standings in 1988, scoring only 20 points.

renault engines (1989–1997)

fw12c

1989

During the 1988 season, Williams worked with their new engine supplier Renault to develop the RS1 3.5 V10 engine. Williams designed a test mule for the engine named FW12B, very much like the Judd-powered car Williams used for the 1988 season except the mule was designed to accommodate the extra length of a V10 engine and not a V8 like the race cars used. For the 1989 season the Renault V10 engine was used. This was the first Renault powered Williams F1 car and also saw Renault's re-entry into Formula One after stopping the supply of their turbocharged engines following the 1986 season.

The updated and revised FW12C showed its potential in the season opening Brazilian Grand Prix with Patrese qualifying 2nd and leading the race from the start.

By the time of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, it had become obvious that while the Renault V10 was continuing to get better and better, the limit of the FW12C itself had been reached, with the team starting to fall behind both McLaren, with their Honda V10 engine, and Ferrari with their V12, while also being consistently challenged by Benetton which had the lightest and most fuel efficient of the top running engines, the Cosworth built and developed Ford V8 of which they had exclusive use.

Overall, the Judd and Renault powered Williams FW12 and FW12C cars scored 1 win, 1 pole position, 2 fastest laps and 9 podium finishes in their 29 races.

fw16  fw16b  fw16c

The Williams FW16 is a Formula One car designed by Adrian Newey for the British Williams team. The FW16 competed in the 1994 Formula One season, with Williams winning the Constructor's Championship, and British driver Damon Hill finishing runner-up in the Drivers' Championship. It is notable as the last car to be driven by three-time world champion Ayrton Senna before his fatal accident during the San Marino Grand Prix. The car was designed around the major regulation changes that the FIA had introduced in the off-season, banning the various electronic devices that had been used by the front running cars during the preceding two seasons.

The FW16 was a passive evolution of the FW15C that had preceded it. The car was powered by a 67-degree V10 engine by Renault Sport termed the RS6 specification, delivering approximately 830 hp.

The heavily revised B-spec car was labelled the FW16B from the German race onwards and was much improved from the original car. It was developed by Hill, but the Benetton B194 and Michael Schumacher were dominant in the first half of the season. This version of the car proved to be very fast and competitive. Hill battled Schumacher for the championship but lost by a single point in the final race in Australia, Nigel Mansell won that race, securing the Constructors' Championship for Williams.

The FW16C was a test car fitted with a 3-litre engine per the 1995 F1 regulations. It was used between 20 and 22 December in 1994 at Paul Ricard by Damon Hill, Jean-Christophe Boullion, and Emmanuel Collard.

mecachrome engines (1998)

fw20

1998

The Williams FW20 was the car with which the Williams Formula One team competed in the 1998 Formula One World Championship. It was driven by Jacques Villeneuve, the reigning champion, and Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who was in his second year with the team.

Ahead of the season, Williams were adversely affected by the departure of Chief Designer Adrian Newey to McLaren, and Renault's withdrawal from F1 as an engine supplier. Newey and Renault had made Williams the dominant team.

The FW20 was the first non-Newey designed car since 1990. Cosmetically the FW20 resembled the FW19 with journalist Joe Saward noting the FW20 followed the same basic design concept as the FW19 with adaptations made to comply with 1998 regulations. The car was equipped with a Mecachrome-badged version of what was essentially the previous year's Renault engine.

1998 was Williams' first season without a win since 1988 and they would finish a distant third behind McLaren and Ferrari in the constructors championship. At the end of the season, Villeneuve and Frentzen would depart for British American Racing and Jordan Grand Prix respectively.

supertec engines (1999)

fw21

1999

The Williams FW21 was the car with which the Williams team competed in the 1999 Formula One World Championship. It was driven by German Ralf Schumacher, who had swapped from Jordan with compatriot Heinz-Harald Frentzen, and Italian Alessandro Zanardi, who had last raced in Formula One in 1994 but had since won the CART championship twice.

This was also the team's last season using a Renault engine (badged as a customer Supertec) until one was fitted in the race winning FW34 in 2012; with a new works deal with BMW for the 2000 season.

Schumacher had a successful season and was a consistent front-runner with the all-new design of the FW21, scoring points in eleven of the sixteen Grands Prix.

The team resided in fourth place in the Constructors Championship for much of the year, unable to challenge McLaren and Ferrari and being generally outpaced by Jordan. The team eventually fell behind Stewart and finished fifth in the Constructors' Championship with 35 points, all scored by Schumacher and thus Williams ended up with their worst season since 1990.

bmw engines (2000–2005)

fw22

2000

The Williams FW22 was the car with which the Williams team competed in the 2000 Formula One World Championship. The car was driven by German Ralf Schumacher in his second season with the team and British rookie Jenson Button who replaced Alessandro Zanardi in the team who was dropped after just one season with the Grove outfit.

This was the first Formula One car powered by a BMW engine since the Megatron-badged Arrows A10B in 1988. An evolution of the previous season's FW21, it marked the first year of the team's collaboration with BMW as an engine supplier, a partnership that would last until the end of 2005; this was also the first Formula One car since 1987 to use fully factory supported BMW engines.

The FW22 proved to be extremely promising. Schumacher finished fifth in the Drivers' Championship with 24 points while Button finished eighth with 12; the combined 36 points placed Williams third in the Constructors' Championship, behind the dominant Ferrari and McLaren teams.

fw25

2003

The Williams FW25 is a Formula One car designed by Williams and powered by a BMW V10 engine. The car was used by Williams for the 2003 championship. Three drivers would drive the FW25 in the 2003 season, with Marc Gené replacing regular racer Ralf Schumacher for the Italian Grand Prix after the German suffered a large testing accident at Monza's Lesmo 1 corner prior to that race. The other regular driver Juan Pablo Montoya started all of the season's Grand Prix.

As of 2026, it remains the last Williams car to score a 1–2 finish.

The design of the 2003 Williams FW25 was a marked departure over its predecessor, and was a completely new design compared to the Williams FW24, something that Williams had not done between 2001 and 2002.

Montoya would later cite the FW25 as a favourite of his, praising the balance and the driveability with the powerful BMW engine which suited his aggressive driving style.

cosworth engines (2006)

fw28

2006

The Williams FW28 was the car with which the Williams team competed in the 2006 Formula One season. The drivers were Mark Webber and rookie Nico Rosberg, the reigning GP2 Series champion. Webber was in his second year with the team, and teammate Nico Rosberg carried a hint of nostalgia, as Nico's father Keke had won the 1982 F1 championship in a Cosworth-engined Williams.

This was the first V8-powered Williams car since the FW12 in 1988 and also the first Williams car ran on Bridgestone tyres since the FW22 in 2000.

Despite the effectiveness of the Cosworth engine, the Bridgestone tyres and the two drivers, the FW28 could only display brief flashes of promise. Too often this promise was compromised by poor reliability - an embarrassment for a team that prided itself on engineering excellence.

Williams finished eighth in the Constructors' Championship - the team's lowest finish since its inaugural season in 1978. Unhappy by the team's reliability problems, Webber departed the team at the end of the season to join Red Bull Racing.

customer toyota engines (2007–2009)

fw29

2007

The Williams FW29 was a Formula One car, built by the Williams F1 team that competed in the 2007 Formula One season. It was driven by Alexander Wurz and Nico Rosberg. The car had a Toyota engine, making it only the second time in the team's history that a Japanese car manufacturer has supplied their engines; Honda had supplied the team during the period from 1983 to 1987.

The Williams FW29 was definitely an improvement over the disastrous Williams FW28, which only scored 11 points and was hugely unreliable. The FW29 proved a consistent challenger for points, but was well off the pace of the front running McLaren and Ferrari cars, and the new BMW Sauber team formed by Williams's old engine partners.

Wurz decided to retire from F1 before the final race of the season, with test driver Kazuki Nakajima drafted in as his replacement. The team were classified in 4th place with 33 points, due to McLaren's expulsion from the Championship.

Williams appeared with the FW29B at Jerez during the winter testing at in January 2008. The car was fitted with several aerodynamic changes which would be adopted on the FW30. Both Rosberg and Nakajima tested with the car.

return to cosworth engines (2010–2011)

fw32

2010

The Williams FW32 was a Formula One motor racing car made by Williams for the 2010 season and powered by the sport's brand-new entry-level Cosworth CA2010 engine. The car was driven by Rubens Barrichello and 2009 GP2 Series champion Nico Hülkenberg. The Williams FW32 is the second clean sheet design for the Williams design team in as many years. The car debuted on track on 1 February at Valencia. It was not officially launched to the public before that.

Williams felt the new Cosworth CA2010 was not good enough and demanded Cosworth to improve the new engine in every area.

At Interlagos Hülkenberg gained his first Formula One pole position, by 1.049 seconds over Sebastian Vettel but lost the lead on the first lap and he eventually finished the race in eighth place,

By the end of the season, they beat Force India in the constructors championship by 1 point, coming 6th with 69 points.

return to renault engines (2012–2013)

fw34

2012

The Williams FW34 was a Formula One racing car designed by Williams F1 for the 2012 Formula One season.

Following their worst season in their thirty-year history—in which they finished ninth in the World Constructors' Championship with just five points—the team underwent a technical review, employing former McLaren designer Mike Coughlan (having served his suspension for his role in the 2007 Formula One espionage controversy) as Chief Designer, and promoting Jason Somerville to Head of Aerodynamics.

The FW34 used the Renault RS27-2012 engine; the team had previously used Renault engines between 1989 and 1997. The car, which was launched on the 7 February 2012, was driven by Pastor Maldonado and Bruno Senna.

At the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix, Maldonado drove the FW34 to pole position and converted it to victory the next day. It was Maldonado's first and only Formula One race win, Williams' first race win since Juan Pablo Montoya won the 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix driving an FW26, and Williams' most recent race win as of October 2025.

mercedes power units (2014–present)

fw36

2014

The Williams FW36 is a Formula One racing car designed by Williams Grand Prix Engineering to compete in the 2014 Formula One season.^[ It was driven by Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa, who replaced the departing Pastor Maldonado.

The FW36 was the first car built by Williams to use a Mercedes engine, a 1.6-litre V6 turbocharged unit, known as the PU106A Hybrid. The FW36 was the first turbo powered Formula One car designed and raced by Williams since the Honda powered FW11B which carried Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell to first and second places respectively in the 1987 World Championship.

The car immediately proved to be more competitive than its predecessor, consistently setting the quickest times in preseason testing. It was particularly fast in a straight line, thanks in part to the Mercedes power unit and in part to its low-drag design. The team scored 320 constructors' points in 2014, compared to 5 in 2013, this secured them 3rd in the Constructors' Championship, 104 points ahead of Ferrari. The car was arguably the second fastest on the grid towards the end of the season.

The car sported the Martini Racing livery after securing title sponsorship from Martini & Rossi. It became the first Formula One car to wear this livery since the Lotus 80 in 1979.

fw42

2019

The Williams FW42 was a Formula One racing car designed by Paddy Lowe, Doug McKiernan and Dave Wheater for the ROKiT Williams Racing team, to compete in the 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship. The car made its competitive debut at the 2019 Australian Grand Prix, driven by the reigning 2018 FIA Formula 2 Champion George Russell who was making his Formula One début; and Robert Kubica, who returned for his first racing season in Formula One since 2010, after recovering from life-threatening injuries suffered in a rally car accident in early 2011.

The car was notably suffered with a build quality problems, poor performance and reliability issues, making it the worst Williams car and the worst car of the entire 2019 grid. The Williams FW42 was forced to miss the first two days of pre-season testing as the car had not been completed in time.  The car completed 567 laps during the tests, the fewest of any teams, and was unable to match the pace of other competitors. Its fastest time was 1.9 seconds slower than the quickest lap of testing posted by Sebastian Vettel driving for Ferrari, and over half a second behind the rest of the grid.

fw44

2022

The Williams FW44 is a Formula One racing car designed and constructed by Williams that competed in the 2022 Formula One World Championship. The car was driven by Nicholas Latifi and Alexander Albon, who were in their third and first years with the team respectively. Nyck de Vries participated in the Italian Grand Prix in the FW44, replacing Albon due to the Thai driver suffering appendicitis. 

The chassis is Williams' first car under the 2022 technical regulations, and their first to be developed wholly under new owners, Dorilton Capital, with Jost Capito at the helm.

With 2022 featuring new technical regulations, the FW44 is a significantly different design to the FW43. With a notably tight design around the sidepod radiators, aerodynamics from the front pushing air to the floor which will be generating ground effect. The FW44 once again utilised Mercedes AMG engines, however it is the first Williams to also utilise their gearbox.

At the British Grand Prix, a major update for the FW44 was revealed with a new floor, sidepod design and rear wing. The design was similar to that of the Red Bull.

fw46

2024

The Williams FW46 is a Formula One racing car designed and constructed by Williams to compete in the 2024 Formula One World Championship. The car was driven by Alexander Albon, Logan Sargeant and Franco Colapinto, the latter of whom replaced Sargeant for the final nine races of the season.

The livery for the FW46 saw minor changes from the FW45. The engine cover design featured a tribute to the Frank Williams Racing Cars logo.

For 2024, the rear suspension is also provided by Mercedes-Benz, with the front suspension being an in-house Williams Racing design.

Sargeant was dropped from the Italian Grand Prix onwards with Williams Academy driver Franco Colapinto stepping up from his Formula 2 campaign to take his place for the remainder of the season.

Throughout the season, which was riddled with numerous incidents, the team scored 17 points.

fw48

2026

The Atlassian Williams FW48 is a Formula One racing car designed and constructed by Atlassian Williams F1 Team to compete in the 2026 Formula One World Championship. The car is currently being driven by Alexander Albon and Carlos Sainz Jr., both in their fifth and second seasons with the team respectively.

The FW48's lead colour is a vibrant gloss blue and is contrasted with a slowing section of black that sweeps from the chassis side through the rear of the car.

The FW48 is shorter (3400mm wheelbase) and narrower (1900mm) than the 2025 car, designed specifically to handle the increased electrical power output of the 2026 engines.

Williams prioritised the development of the FW48 before any other team, with development of the FW47 cut early, allowing for full focus on the FW48. However, the FW48's development has been marked by production delays that saw the team miss the private shakedown test in Barcelona in late January 2026.  While listed at 772.4 kg, the team is currently working to shed excess weight to reach the minimum limit.