How Williams traded podiums for alarming obscurity

End of the line. Williams F1, or Williams Grand Prix Engineering as it was at its founding in the mists of 1977, will race on next season, its name reassuringly branded into the new and more equitable Concorde Agreement beside all its rivals. But is it still 'Williams' without Frank? Not really. Now 78 and not in the best of health, he hasn't run the team for years. But Frank remained its beating heart - until 3 September 2020, the Thursday before the Italian Grand Prix. Our last chapter of this wonderful, quirky, often thorny odyssey coincides with a monumental - and monumentally sad - occurrence: Frank Williams has left the building.

But it didn't have to end this way for the great man and his daughter Claire, de facto team principal since 2013. At the dawn of this modern era, Williams had a golden chance to climb back to where it belonged at the sharp end of F1. And, for a couple of sweet years, the team took that chance - then threw all that good work away. What a missed opportunity.

Back then, Pat Symonds had unfinished business with Formula 1. The academically trained engineer had enjoyed a rich and fulfilling career at Toleman, which became Benetton in 1986, and was a core component in Michael Schumacher's twin world titles in the mid-1990s. When the team became Renault, Pat repeated the feat with Fernando Alonso, ending a five-year period of Ferrari dominance. But the shame of 'crash-gate' from Singapore 2008, when Nelsinho Piquet spun out on purpose to help Alonso win, forced him into exile. The five-year ban was later overturned by a French court and he made a low-key F1 return as a consultant to the small Marussia team. Williams, deep in its own self-inflicted doldrums, needed a calming hand of experience. It appeared to be a perfect match.

In 2013, at the end of the 2.4-litre V8 era, the team toiled to a depressing ninth in the constructors' standings. It was now eight years since the divorce with BMW and the 'indie' years had been a fragmented jumble that started with Cosworth power, followed by three years with Toyota V8s, a return to Cosworth and finally an anti-climactic reunion with old partner Renault. But now the team at least found stability in its supply - and by far the best power unit on the grid. Intense research, investment, preparation and sheer engineering excellence meant Mercedes-Benz would leave Ferrari and Renault embarrassed, picking sand from their teeth at the start of the 1.6-litre turbo hybrid era. Combined with new investment from Martini, a smart, high-profile sponsor with its own grand legacy in motorsport, Williams had the perfect cocktail to hit the ground running in 2014.

In Austria, Williams would stun F1, not to mention the works Mercedes squad, by locking out the front row

But the team's best season in a decade, by far, didn't fall together simply because Williams had landed the right power unit at the right time. When he joined in mid-2013, Symonds was taken aback at the scale of the task he faced, within a team that carried the open wounds of its painful fall. These were good people, many of whom had been at the team since the glory years when Symonds had been the enemy, but a lack of investment and a trenchant culture perhaps best described as the 'Williams way' had resulted in low morale, departments that blamed each other for shared failings, and practices that were off the pace of sharper rivals. Culture change cannot be delivered overnight. But a focus on methodical, logical engineering and strong organisation would begin a process of remarkable transformation.

The Austrian Grand Prix at the renamed Red Bull Ring, on the F1 schedule for the first time since 2003, was the scene of the breakthrough. Valtteri Bottas had endured a trying rookie season in 2013 but now, armed with the low-drag FW36 with all that Mercedes hybrid thrust, 
he was ready to fly. He'd been joined by veteran Felipe Massa, hungry for a fresh start after tough years as team-mate to Alonso at Ferrari. The Brazilian wasn't a cheap hiring, but with his favourite engineer Rob Smedley making the transition with him, here was a well-balanced line-up worthy of the team's pedigree.

In Austria, Williams would stun F1, not to mention the works Mercedes squad, by locking out the front row. The magnificent sight of the two Martini cars leading the field didn't last, but a team three-four, with Bottas scoring his first podium, was a welcome line in the sand. Williams was back and the cork had been popped.

At Silverstone, Bottas would charge from a disappointing 14th on the grid to finish second, passing a string of highly-rated rivals to inherit the runner-up spot when Nico Rosberg's gearbox failed. Then at Hockenheim, Bottas drew praise for holding off Lewis Hamilton's charge from the back to claim another second.

The slippery FW36 carried Massa to his first Williams podium at Monza and the pair finished the year both spraying rose water in Abu Dhabi. In all, nine podium finishes were racked up as Williams climbed a remarkable six places to be the third best team of the new era, ahead of Ferrari. In his sophomore season, Bottas served notice by finishing fourth in the drivers' standings behind only Hamilton, Rosberg and Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo. The only pity was the lack of a victory to cap a special year. But surely that would come. Wouldn't it?

Valtteri Bottas had endured a trying rookie season in 2013 but now, armed with the low-drag FW36 with all that Mercedes hybrid thrust, 
he was ready to fly

It would not. On Claire Williams' final day as deputy team principal at Monza this year, she was presented with a nose and front wing assembly dating from Abu Dhabi in 2014, marked out as the last double-podium finish for the team (to date). Little did we know in 2015 the slip had already begun. The year was still a strong one for Williams, which repeated its third-place finish in the constructors' championship, this time behind Ferrari and ahead of Red Bull. But 63 fewer points carried it to that result, with only a pair of podiums each for Bottas and Massa, fifth and sixth respectively in the drivers' standings.

At Silverstone, Massa shot past the Mercs on the front row to lead, with Bottas joining him in a Williams 1-2 for 15 glorious laps. But, in a rain-affected race, they faded to an eventual four-five finish. Progress had stalled along with investment, the constant bane of life in the indie ranks.

At this point, a comparison with Force India comes into play. Here was another British indie, working out of smaller facilities at Silverstone but carrying a lower weight of expectation. Born from Jordan, which begat Midland and Spyker, the stability of its engineering staff belied the shifting face of the team's ownership, as is so often the case with apparently shape-shifting F1 entities.

Now under Vijay Mallya's ownership and nurturing its own Mercedes relationship, Force India became a direct threat to Williams, with a front line featuring the accomplished Sergio Perez and Williams old boy Nico Hulkenberg. And in 2016, the team outperformed its more illustrious rival, finishing fourth in the points and pushing Williams down to fifth. Bottas had just a single podium to his name, while Massa chose this underwhelming moment to retire as the team struggled to find consistency from Pirelli's tricky tyres. The meritocracy in F1 was splitting into two: Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull in one division, the rest in another. And as the gap began to widen, Williams began to drown.

Symonds was coming to the end of his three-year deal and could at least take personal redemptive satisfaction from the turnaround in fortunes, so much so that Claire Williams and CEO Mike O'Driscoll encouraged him to stay on. New investment from Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll offered an opportunity to catch the slip and push on, and Symonds had embraced this, working on a project dubbed '3 to 1' focused on taking Stroll's privileged but talented son Lance from the nursery slopes to the pinnacle. That had gone better than expected. Why not stay on for more?

Then in December 2016, Symonds was called to a meeting. To his shock, he was out. Why? He really didn't understand until it was confirmed that Paddy Lowe, once of Williams early in the Adrian Newey era, was switching from his senior role in the Mercedes success story to take technical charge at his old team, with a part-share in the company to complete the deal. If Symonds could take Williams from ninth to third, seemed the thinking, imagine what Lowe could achieve.

Among all this, Bottas was gone too. Rosberg had grown into a fine grand prix driver since his own Williams days, but no one had really expected him to beat Hamilton over a season in an identical Mercedes. The effort to do so in 2016 took every ounce of his being. A surprise and deserved champion, he was done - and now one of the two best seats on the grid was empty. After the hostility that had boiled over between Rosberg and Hamilton, Mercedes needed a calm, quick and easy team-mate to slip quietly in. Bottas absolutely fitted the bill. He wasn't yet a race winner, but surely in a Mercedes that would soon change. But was he a world champion? 
We're still waiting for an answer to that one.

The transfer did at least give Williams some bartering power for better terms on its Mercedes power supply, and it also allowed Massa to about-turn on his retirement plans. He would be joined by rookie Stroll in 2017. But what was that sound? Could it be alarm bells? Such a line-up looked unlikely to equate to top three in the standings.

Forget midfield - the rot had properly set in by now: Stroll managed six points, poor Sirotkin just one, and inevitably key people paid the price

The team's 40th anniversary year, in which the FW designation sequence skipped past 39 and straight on to FW40, was hardly befitting of the landmark. From 138 points in 2016, the tally slipped to just 83, although Stroll's impressive podium finish at the inaugural Azerbaijan Grand Prix gave indication he was more than just a 'pay driver'. Fifth in the final reckoning was maintained, but for a man like Lawrence Stroll, being overshadowed again by Force India was never going to wash. Lowe needed to deliver, and soon.

Those alarm bells rang a little more urgently when, for 2018, Williams signed Sergey Sirotkin beside Stroll, as Massa this time really did take his leave having missed out on adding to the 11 F1 victories he scored with Ferrari.

No offence to Sirotkin, who offered more than a bag of roubles for his F1 shot, but the line-up was hardly about to leave the team's midfield rivals quaking in their Pirellis. Actually, forget midfield - the rot had properly set in by now: Stroll managed six points, poor Sirotkin just one, and inevitably key people paid the price.

Chief designer Ed Wood and head of aero Dirk de Beer were gone by May, and Smedley - once tipped by some for greater heights - left Williams and F1 at the end of the year. Somehow, from those promising podiums in 2014-15, the team had reverted to its pre-hybrid morass. No wonder Martini and then, more significantly, Lawrence Stroll bailed, taking his son and his millions to turn Force India into Racing Point and soon into Aston Martin. What on earth was going on?

Approachable, highly intelligent and easy to like, Lowe deserved his fine reputation after his years at McLaren and Mercedes. It was puzzling how badly Williams fared under his watch, and how it just got worse. In 2019 the new FW42 was late to start pre-season testing, and illegal when it got there. This was getting painful. Then when the car did roll, it was simply far too slow. Less than two weeks before the start of the new season, Lowe took a leave of absence. He wouldn't return. Was this simply a case of the wrong man in the wrong job? If so, it crushed his reputation. But all those years of experience and expertise... it would be a waste if he does not return to F1 in some capacity in the future.

What a time for Formula 2 champion George Russell to take his F1 bow. As for Robert Kubica, making a frankly miraculous comeback to F1 after almost losing an arm in a rally accident eight years earlier, he simply had no chance. Fortunes have at least improved this season with Russell and another well-funded hopeful, Nicholas Latifi, leading the front line - despite the short-lived sponsorship deal with ROKiT hitting the rocks before the delayed 2020 season began. In terms of lap time percentage, no team has improved more - but there's little credit in that, given how far Williams had fallen.

There was sadness but no surprise when Claire Williams announced earlier this year that new owners would be required to carry the team forward. The investment Dorilton Capital brings is desperately required and should be welcomed. As for Frank and Claire, they were never going to stay for long once the deal was banked. Right back at the beginning, the team had been formed precisely because Frank couldn't stand relinquishing control of his original operation to Walter Wolf in 1976. 'Independence' is the key word in Williams history.

PLUS: Why team sale is the reset Williams needs

So what do we make of Dorilton and what are the intentions of a private investment company buying a poorly performing F1 team? Of the three-man board, two are unknown quantities in F1 terms, but James Matthews has more relevance than simply being Prince William's brother-in-law. He was a convincing Formula Renault UK champion back in 1994 as Damon Hill was facing Michael Schumacher in Williams' most tumultuous season, before he turned to city trading. Matthews was also among a group of investors who supported Ralph Firman Jr in his one and only F1 season with Jordan in 2003. Perhaps more significantly, he is the son of Dave Matthews, a successful saloon car racer in the early 1970s best known for surviving a huge shunt at Silverstone before becoming a successful entrepreneur. Everyone in motor racing knows everyone else, and it's likely Frank Williams and Dave Matthews moved in the same social circles. The choice of buyer could well have a strong personal connection.

All bets are off for what comes next. Will it be sold again, to another Lawrence Stroll? Or a car manufacturer? But which one? And for how long will the team be known as Williams? Just as it was when Frank started, little is certain or remains the same for long in F1. It won't be the same without him - of course it won't. But this ending was coming for years. As usual in this unhinged, mayfly world of motorsport, some will say it's not what happened in the past that matters most, but what happens next. That might be true. But even so, we'll never forget.