Can Williams recapture its winning ways with young chargers?

Williams fans, of which there are countless worldwide, will be hoping it’s a mixture of the two. After all, Sirotkin is bringing a sizeable budget to the table but is a winner in Formula Renault 3.5 and GP2. He’s also got F1 test mileage with Sauber, Renault and Sir Frank’s team on his CV.

Whatever the opinions on the decision’s merits, Williams will field one of the youngest and least-experienced line-ups in the sport’s long history. In fact, they are the squad’s youngest ever, ahead of Ralf Schumacher and Jenson Button at the start of the 2000 season.

With Felipe Massa retiring after four years with the team, Sirotkin joins sophomore F1 racer Lance Stroll. The Canadian is also hugely well-funded, of course, but he does have a European F3 title and an F1 front-row start and podium finish to his name.

Having wondered how many times Williams has started a season with two drivers yet to win in Formula 1, we refreshed our memories of the team’s season-starting pairings since 1978, the year in which Williams Grand Prix Engineering began its first full year in the sport. Interestingly, the last time it happened – in 2012 – was the season in which the team most recently won a Grand Prix. A good omen, possibly?

1999 – Ralf Schumacher/Alex Zanardi

Former Jordan driver Schumacher joined Williams alongside Champ Car hero Zanardi to drive the Supertec V10-powered FW21s. The German would score a debut podium in Australia, with runner-up spot in Italy his best result that year, while Zanardi had a nightmare season, taking a best finish of seventh in Italy.

2000 – Ralf Schumacher/Jenson Button

For Schumacher’s second season with Williams, he was paired with rookie sensation Jenson Button, while BMW joined the squad in a high-profile, big-budget partnership. Despite this, it would still be a season of no wins. Schumacher took two third-placed finishes, in Belgium and Italy, while Button’s best was a fourth in Germany.  

2001 – Ralf Schumacher/Juan Pablo Montoya

Schumacher’s third team-mate in as many years would be IndyCar sensation Montoya. With BMW fully ingratiated in the team, the relationship began to bear fruit. The FW23 gave Schumacher his maiden win at Imola, while Montoya delivered on the promise of runner-up spots in the Spanish and European GPs to take his breakthrough victory in Italy.

2005 – Nick Heidfeld/Mark Webber

Heidfeld and Webber replaced Schumacher and Montoya, respectively Toyota and McLaren-bound, for 2005. German Heidfeld had already racked up 84 races for Prost, Sauber and Jordan, while Webber had endured two years with Jaguar. The FW27 didn’t carry the momentum of Montoya’s win at the end of ’04, with four podium finishes the best result. Heidfeld did, however, take pole position for the European GP.

2006 – Nico Rosberg/Mark Webber

Inaugural GP2 Champion Rosberg replaced BMW Sauber-bound Heidfeld for 2006 and set fastest lap on his debut in Bahrain. He couldn’t finish any higher than seventh (twice) aboard the FW28 throughout the year, while Webber sneaked two P6s in Bahrain and San Marino. With BMW having taken over the Sauber team in full, 2006 would mark the end of its supply deal with Williams so that it could focus on its new-found manufacturer status.   

2007 – Nico Rosberg/Alexander Wurz

Williams joined forces with Toyota for 2007, with Alex Wurz joining Rosberg. The FW29 was an unremarkable car, with Rosberg managing a best of fourth place in the season-closing Brazilian GP, while Wurz, who’d only raced once (for McLaren in 2005) since the end of 2000, scraped a third place in Canada.

2008 – Nico Rosberg/Kazuki Nakajima

Japanese Nakajima, son of former F1 racer Satoru, joined Rosberg for 2008 to help strengthen the Williams-Toyota relationship. The season started well, with Rosberg taking third in Australia. That would be as good as it got for the German, while Nakajima finished sixth that day in Melbourne to signal a false dawn for Williams.

2009 – Nico Rosberg/Kazuki Nakajima

The 2009 season was the first time Williams retained a pair of non-winners for the start of the year. Nakajima could manage no better than ninth in his final year with the team, while Rosberg at least salvaged some dignity with 16 finishes from 17 starts, including two fourths and four fifth-placed finishes. Things would soon become very different for Rosberg when he joined Mercedes for 2010…  

2012 – Pastor Maldonado/Bruno Senna

Venezuelan pay-driver Maldonado would write his own bit of Williams history during 2012, but he started his second season with the team as a non-winner alongside Ayrton Senna’s nephew Bruno. The FW34, powered by a Renault engine, began the year inauspiciously but all the stars aligned in Spain in round five, where Maldonado held off Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari for an unlikely win – during a weekend of 70^th birthday celebrations for team owner Sir Frank Williams. Senna took sixth in Malaysia – his best finish of the year. More than five years on, Maldonado’s win in Spain that day remains the team’s most recent victory.

2018 – Sergey Sirotkin/Lance Stroll

With just 20 GP starts between them (Stroll’s 2017 tally), this year’s Williams line-up of Sirotkin and Stroll is one of the least experienced on the grid. But with Mercedes power and the influence of technical wizard Paddy Lowe, Williams may be able to spring a few surprises in 2018…

Years in which Williams had a least one winner in its season-starting line-up

*Italics indicates non-winner at the start of that season

1982 Carlos Reutemann/Keke Rosberg

1985 Nigel Mansell/Keke Rosberg

1989 Thierry Boutsen/Riccardo Patrese

1993 Damon Hill/Alain Prost

1995 David Coulthard/Damon Hill

1996 Damon Hill/Jacques Villeneuve

1997 Heinz-Harald Frentzen/Jacques Villeneuve

2010 Rubens Barrichello/Nico Hulkenberg

2011 Rubens Barrichello/Pastor Maldonado

2013 Valtteri Bottas/Pastor Maldonado

2014 Valtteri Bottas/Felipe Massa

2015 Valtteri Bottas/Felipe Massa

2016 Valtteri Bottas/Felipe Massa

2017 Felipe Massa/Lance Stroll

Photography courtesy of LAT Images