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This article first appeared in GP Racing magazine.
Officially, it all started 43 years ago - but that's not true at all. Within just two years of its founding, Williams Grand Prix Engineering was the shiny, new irresistible (down)force of Formula 1, but its rise begs the old question: 'how many nights does it take to be an overnight sensation?'
Eight long years of turmoil, tragedy, of missed and wasted opportunity, of false starts and disappointment - the same length of time as the current drought - preceded what was Frank Williams's last chance to really make his F1 ambitions stick as he'd always belligerently believed they would.
Frank had briefly raced himself before wisely recognising his strengths lay in the hustle of getting racing cars on to grids rather than away from them.
