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The FW07 won the British GP at Silverstone in 1979. This was the first GP win for the Williams Team, the car being driven at that time by Clay Regazzoni. The team had been racing for the previous 11 years, they started out with a Brabham F1 car driven by Piers Courage, who was not very successful.
It wasn't until 1978 that Frank Williams, the team owner, obtained some decent Arab sponsorship from Saudia Arabian Airlines. With Alan Jones driving the FW06, an orthodox GP car, the team managed joint 11th with the Arrows team in the constructors championship. The FW07 was built as a ground effect car, following the success of the Lotus 78. Clay Regazzoni was taken on to partner Alan Jones and together they notched up 75 points, taking Williams to second place in the constructors championship, second only to Ferrari.
The Williams team started the 1979 season with the FW06 becoming rapidly outdated. Ground effect was becoming the way to go in Grand Prix racing. By Zolder the FW07 was ready and was the fastest thing on he track up until it broke. At Monaco Jones was pushing the Ferraris but clipped the wall, at Dijon he finished fourth on unsuitable tyres.
From then on, though, the Australian was almost unstoppable, He dominated at Silverstone before he retired, leaving his team mate to take the laurels. After that came three grand prix wins in a row. Hockenheim, The Ostereichring and Zandvoort. At Monza he was the fastest man in the race, albeit at the back after a stop; at Montreal he won superbly after a classic battle with Villeneuve: at the Glen, he took an easy pole and looked set for victory when a botched tyre change led to a loss of a wheel. Just like
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