F1: A Beginners Guide - The Top Teams and Drivers - Page 3

AT&T Williams F1 - Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head's team gets reinvigorated this year. After a year of struggling in 2006, the team is looking to get back to their winning ways. The Williams team started racing in 1978 and was very successful in the 80s and 90s winning 9 constructors and 7 drivers' championships between 1980 and 1997. The team competed in 502 races in which they have won 113 races, had 125 pole positions and 128 fastest laps. The team is known for having had some of the most famous racing drivers in their cars: Keke Rosberg, Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost are just a few of the names that have driven a Williams over the years.

Drivers - Nico Rosberg (German, 0 Wins) and Alexander Wurz (Austrian, 0 Wins)

Prediction - The Williams team struggled in 2006, they initially had issues with the aero stability of their cars. Although the Cosworth V8 engine was reportedly the most powerful on the grid and the first break, the 20,000 RPM 'limit' that the V8 engines theoretically had made it a bit fragile at times. There may be a resurgence at the Grove (Oxford, UK) team. They have signed some large corporate sponsors in AT&T and Lenovo, so money will not be a key issue. They have also dropped the Cosworth engine and instead signed a deal with the Toyota F1 team to run their RVX-07 engine this year. With a major car company helping out, and two up and coming drivers, they may just be able to turn the tide. I would think the team does not have title expectations this year, instead they should be looking to get back into the winning way.

Honda Racing F1 - The modern Honda team grew out of the BAR team that was setup originally by British American Tobacco after they acquired the Tyrell team. There is not a lot of the old BAR team left inside Honda after the Japanese manufacturer bought the team out, besides the Brackley (UK) team base. The Honda team has been set up and honed for the English driver Jenson Button. Button was joined last year by the likable Brazilian, Rubens Barrichello, and this year is no different. Honda corporation has a long F1 history, they competed in the sport as early as 1963 which was only three years after creating their first road car withdrawing from the championship in 1969. They reentered the sport as engine suppliers between 1983 and 1992 winning 71 grands prix, six constructors championships and five drivers' championships. Since the company's return as a constructor to F1 in 2005 they have won once with Jenson Button.

Article Author: Ashleigh Charlesworth

Ashleigh currently writes for Naked Cleaner and F1 Blog. His interest lie in Technology (of all forms) and engineering. Day to day he does network security for living (yes I AM that nerdy).

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