Things got tougher alongside Juan Pablo Montoya as their time together wore on and Schumacher’s 2004 campaign was ruined by his Indianapolis crash. PLUS: How BMW took Williams to the brink of F1 glory and back He also beat impressive rookie Jenson Button during their year together in 2000 and scored Williams’s first GP win for nearly four years at Imola the following season, one of three victories in 2001. Ralf consistently challenged the faster McLarens and Ferraris, was unfortunate not to win the European GP and comfortably put his highly rated Indycar champion team-mate Alex Zanardi in the shade. It’s sometimes forgotten how good Michael Schumacher’s brother was at times for Williams, particularly during his brilliant first campaign with the team in 1999. Schumacher ended a three-year drought for Williams by winning the 2001 San Marino GP While Mansell swept to the title with nine wins, Patrese scored just one and only narrowly held off Michael Schumacher and Senna for second in the championship. He was never as comfortable in the traction control, active suspension-boasting FW14B in 1992. Patrese nevertheless finished a fine third in the drivers’ standings. He brilliantly led the wet San Marino GP and won in Mexico before Mansell came on strong and took the fight to McLaren’s Ayrton Senna. PLUS: The key Williams mistakes behind missing 1991 title glory
Mansell returned but Patrese consistently had the edge in qualifying in the early stages of the campaign, as the FW14 became a real threat to McLaren. Patrese and new team-mate Thierry Boutsen were evenly matched and both won races, Patrese taking the 1990 San Marino GP.īut perhaps he was never more impressive than in 1991. The Judd-powered FW12 was not a Williams classic and suffered poor reliability, but things started to look up when Renault engines arrived in 1989. PLUS: The mystery capitulation that denied F1’s ultimate enigma 1981 title gloryĪfter a one-off subbing for the injured Nigel Mansell in the 1987 Australian GP, Patrese joined the Briton at Williams full-time the following season. He also didn’t walk out on the squad two races into a campaign, as Reutemann did in 1982… Williams years: 1987 (final race), 1988-92Ĭarlos Reutemann and Patrese were very close for this 10th spot, but the Italian gets the nod due to his longevity with the team and the fact he took four world championship grand prix wins for Williams compared to the Argentinian’s three. Patrese hit fine form in 1991 and had the upper-hand on Mansell early in the year, delivering a convincing win in Mexico It doesn’t count their achievements at other teams.
That makes selecting the top 10 Williams F1 drivers a challenge.įor this list we’ve taken into account the amount of success the drivers scored with Williams, the impact they had on the team and the circumstances of their time there. Top 10: Ranking the greatest Williams F1 cars
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