Since the last of Williams' 113 wins at the Brazilian GP in 2004 this once all-conquering team has suffered what can euphemistically be described as a slump in form. Falling from frontrunners to near backmarkers, fans of one of F1's most famous names would have despaired at the scale of their latest slump in 2011 as Williams suffered the worst season in their long and distinguished F1 career.
Ninth place in the Constructors' Championship, five points all season and a substantial reshuffling of their technical line-up summed up a year from hell for all at Grove. Long-time technical director Sam Michael and chief aerodynamicist Jon Tomlinson fell on their sword in wake of a point-less start to the campaign, and while development parts aimed at improving the FW33's performance continued to be delivered throughout the season, the car was fundamentally inadequate to dramatically improve their competitiveness.
Former McLaren man Mike Coughlan arrived mid-season along with other new faces and focused on helping restructure the technical department to ensure things dramatically improve for 2012. Renault engines have also been brought in to replace the Cosworth units on the new challenger - an announcement that evoked memories of the team's halcyon days when the Frank Williams-founded operation was a well-oiled World Championship-winning machine in partnership with Renault power.
From the breakthrough success with Alan Jones in 1980 to Jacques Villeneuve's 1997 title, Williams' record of nine Constructors' Championships went unsurpassed until Ferrari went on their championship-winning spree at the start of the century - although the team still remain second in the all-time list ahead of McLaren. Williams' roll call of world champions also famously includes British heroes Nigel Mansell (1992) and Damon Hill (1996), along with Keke Rosberg, Nelson Piquet and Alain Prost.
The closest Williams came to adding to their title haul over the past 15 years was in 2003 when, during what at the time appeared a blossoming partnership with engine partner BMW, Juan-Pablo Montoya took his challenge down to the penultimate round only to lose out to eventual champion Michael Schumacher.
Since Montoya's victory in Brazil in 2004, Williams have been out of the winner's circle for 127 races - an astonishing statistic given the team's pedigree. It's been a sobering fall from grace, but Williams will tell you they're very much not dead yet.
