Williams became a top team

Patrick Head and Frank Williams pose in front of their Williams FW06-Ford ahead of the 1978 Formula One season. Australian Alan Jones is the sole driver of Williams Grand Prix Engineering that year.

The team was formed in 1977 after Frank Williams’ earlier unsuccessful F1 operation, Frank Williams Racing Cars and was based (still is) in Grove, Oxfordshire. Its first race was the 1977 Spanish Grand Prix, where the new team ran a March for Belgian Patrick Nève.

For the 1978 season, Patrick Head designed the first Williams car: the FW06. Williams signed Alan Jones, who had won the Austrian Grand Prix the previous season for Shadow. Williams earned their first podium at the 1978 US Grand Prix, where Jones came second (picture-below).

Williams finished the season in ninth place in the Constructors’ Championship with 11 points, while Alan Jones finished 11th in the Drivers’ Championship. Towards the end of 1978, Frank Williams recruited Frank Dernie to join Patrick Head in the design office. Greater things were on their way.