For the love of racing

For the 1979 season, Frank Williams was looking for a solid second driver alongside Alan Jones. He wisely chose Swiss Clay Regazzoni who came from the Shadow team.

The Williams FW07, designed by Patrick Head and Frank Dernie, proved to be very competitive, especially in the final part of the season, with the FW07s winning all but two of the final seven races of the 1979 calendar.

The first win was for Regazzoni (after team mate Jones was forced retire from the lead) at Silverstone, the first of 114 victories for the Williams Grand Prix team. However, despite this achievement, he was replaced by Carlos Reutemann at the end of the season.

Asked why he continued to drive at the age of 40, Regazzoni replied: “I love Formula One, and most of all I love to drive racing cars. So why should I stop when I feel this way?”