The fall and rise of Williams

A two-decade rollercoaster best describes the last 20 years for Williams.

After Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve brought drivers' titles to the teams in successive years, the British team entered a period of ups and down as it battled to find its true identity.

The current issue of Autosport magazine charted the fall and rise of Williams. With insight from deputy team principal Claire Williams, we reflect on the peaks, troughs and return to form for the privateer punching above its weight.

THE MID-'90S ZENITH

Damon Hill won the 1996 drivers' championship as Williams dominated the constructors' side, taking 12 wins out of 16 races. It was the team's third drivers' title and fourth constructors' title in the last five years. Rookie IndyCar champion Jacques Villeneuve also made a splash on his F1 debut, securing pole and winning four races.

"Seeing Damon's wife Georgie walk down the pit lane with cardboard cutout of her husband was mega," says Williams. "Any championship-winning season will be a highlight. I know the team was a really fun place to be then. To win a championship then and it being our last British driver to win the championship makes it very special."

The following season, Williams won its final drivers'/constructors' double with Villeneuve taking the title after a controversial last-race collision at the season finale in Jerez with Michael Schumacher that earned the Ferrari driver a heavy penalty.

Villeneuve's victory at Silverstone also meant the team joined Ferrari and McLaren as one of only three teams to win 100 races.

"Jacques had a big influence in the team," says Williams. "He was a very hard worker but there was a fun side to him. You always saw his mechanics with dyed hair. My key memory of that year was when he won the championship and seeing everyone with the blonde wigs on. That was really nice and says a lot about our team. Frank is perfectly happy that when things are going well, people can celebrate in that passionate way."

LOSING RENAULT SUPPORT

For 1998 and '99, Williams lost works Renault support and was left only with the continuation Mecachrome/Supertec programme. From back-to-back titles came two winless years.

A handful of podiums was the highlight as the team struggled with rebadged old-spec engines, with fifth in the constructors' in 1999 its lowest end result of the 1990s.

"When I think of those seasons, having experienced really difficult years in 2011, '12 and '13, I think we probably took for granted some of the successes we had," says Williams. "We had podiums but Williams considered those disappointing years and rightly so after two decades of fighting at the top."

THE BMW YEARS

An alliance with BMW was formed in 2000 as Williams gambled on fielding rookie Jenson Button, straight out of Formula 3, alongside Ralf Schumacher. Third in the constructors' championship is secured but the team is a long way behind Ferrari and McLaren, with just one podium.

Juan Pablo Montoya arrived as CART champion in 2001 in place of Button and the Williams-BMW partnership racked up its first win with Schumacher, before ending the season third again, with a total of four victories.

"There were some great times, with Ralf and Juan Pablo fighting each other," remembers Williams. "That was when I started with the team, working with Ralf and Juan.

"Juan would be part of my dream driver line up. I loved him. They were real characters. Jenson starting his career with us during that time. They were good times but unfortunately times which didn't end the way we liked."

A sole Schumacher triumph in 2002 is all the team had to shout about en route to second in the constructors' standings, miles behind the dominant Ferrari team. But Montoya had a run at the 2003 drivers' title before a controversial tyre ruling late in the season held it back and allowed Ferrari to regain the initiative.

At the end of a winless 2005 season, Williams parted company with BMW, which wanted to fulfil its ambition of having a full works team after acquiring Sauber.

"The BMW partnership started off with wonderful hopes and aspirations and probably ended in a messy divorce," says Williams. "It was a wonderful new partnership which we all had high expectations for. It was so exciting.

"But over a period of time, it started disintegrating and that was quite sad to see, but it was what it was. You can't cry over spilt milk."

LIFE AS A COSWORTH AND TOYOTA CUSTOMER

Williams switched to Cosworth engines for 2006, but Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg struggled to get results and the team finished down in eighth in the constructors' championship with just 11 points.

At the time, it seemed like the team had reached its nadir.

"It was difficult going from having the support of a major engine manufacturer to having an independent engine supplier without the financial support," says Williams. "There was a big identity change going from Williams BMW and we were in this very different space."

For 2007 Williams agreed a three-year customer engine supply from Toyota, which led to slightly improved fortunes (fifth in '07) and the team running marque protege Kazuki Nakajima for '08 and '09.

Williams still only had sporadic moments in the sun. A renewed partnership with Cosworth in 2010 again delivered little, save for Nico Hulkenberg's pole position at that year's Brazilian Grand Prix shortly before he was dropped to make way for heavily PDVSA-backed GP2 champion Pastor Maldonado.

"This was a period with a lot of manoeuvring between engine manufacturers," says Williams. "We went from Cosworth to Toyota then back to Cosworth. We had a bit of an identity crisis. It was a difficult period. You could describe it as the wilderness years I suppose. But we have emerged stronger from it."

In 2011, Williams finished ninth. Times would remain tough before they could get better.

LAYING NEW FOUNDATIONS

After wholesale changes early in 2011 after Sam Michael's resignation as technical director, Williams had a stronger '12 season with Mike Coughlan in the role. A switch to Renault engines also helps the team to take its first win since the last race of the '04 season thanks to Pastor Maldonado's shock victory in Spain in May.

But driver errors cost the team dearly and, despite having the pace to be at least fifth in the standings, and perhaps as high as third, it languished eighth in 2012 prior to a dire year the following season as it struggled with Coanda exhausts.

"When you join up with a new engine manufacturer, you have a lot of high expectations," says Williams. "Rejoining Williams and Renault felt like we were reigniting the glory days of Williams.

"Unfortunately that didn't happen, more through Williams' fault for not building a competitive enough chassis. That was the start of a slippery slope for us. Internally, it was not the best. But we have rebuilt since then and have now come out of the back of that period."

THE UNDERDOG FINDS ITS BITE

For the first time since 2003, Williams - now powered by Mercedes - has strung together two seasons in the top three in the championships.

There have been podiums, pole positions and fastest laps. All that's missing is a win...

"Now, we know who we are," says Williams. "There's no identity crisis going on here. We have stability in our partner Mercedes and some great new partners. I wanted to get this team back to to the days of BMW when it was an officious, professional racing team with a core identity.

"Williams is in a really good position at the moment. We've done a lot of hard work to get to where we are today and all those decisions have been well-considered decisions. It's nothing that's happened by luck or by chance. We put in place a very competitive strategy midway through 2013 across all areas of our business that everyone's fully aware of now.

"We now have strong partnerships and a strong financial platform to go racing form. But it's still a work in progress, it always is."