AT&T Williams F1

After podium finishes at Long Beach and Monaco, it became only a matter of time before the Williams FW07 won its first race of 1979. That day duly arrived at the British Grand Prix in July, giving Williams F1 its first Grand Prix victory.

Eighteen years later, Jacques Villeneuve took the team’s 100th win in the 1997 British Grand Prix. Here, Bernie Goble – the team’s longest-serving employee – remembers the races as if they were yesterday.

“The first win is the one that I remember most vividly,” says Bernie. ”There were only about 30 employees in the company back then and I was one of three machinists, so I didn’t travel to the races. However, I went to Silverstone that year with my brother-in-law and watched from the grandstands.

“We’d improved the FW07 quite a lot during the build-up to the race and I think Alan [Jones] had been quickest in pre-event testing. We didn’t expect to win the race – we’ve never expected to win a race because there are so many unknowns in this sport – but we were quietly confident that we’d be competitive, particularly with Alan’s car. Not only was Alan a very nice bloke, the sort that would have a pint with you in the pub, he was a bloody good driver. He’d pick up the car and run with it, which we all liked.

“Alan led the race from pole position, but retired with an engine problem, which handed the lead of the race to our other driver, Clay Regazzoni. He wasn’t as quick as Alan, and wasn’t such an outgoing character, be he was quick enough to pick up the pieces when Alan’s car failed.

“When Clay crossed the line, I remember feeling very emotional. Total jubilation. I joined in the track invasion and there was just great excitement all around the circuit. We then had a hell of a party down the pub that night because the bosses put some money behind the bar. Both of the drivers came into the factory the following day and shook everyone’s hand, which was great.


“From that day at Silverstone onwards, we’ve won quite regularly. Every win is special, but none of the subsequent ones have felt quite like the first one. I wasn’t at the British Grand Prix when Jacques Villeneuve won our 100th race in ’97, and I didn’t even realise we’d reached our ton until the television commentators started talking about it!

“I remember chatting about Jacques’ win for 10 minutes at work the following day, but then we all went back to our machines because your focus always has to be on the next race, not the one that’s just passed. Having said that, I guess win number 100 must have meant a lot to Frank and Patrick because it was a big milestone for the company.”