The team will undoubtedly go down as the team of the '90s, winning five constructors' titles between 1992 and 1997 along with four drivers' titles. However, life for Williams was not always so rosy.

After their creation in 1968, the Williams team struggled for the next 11 years and it was not until the 1979 season, with a car designed by Patrick Head, that they began to establish themselves as one of the top F1 teams of the modern era.

In that season they secured their first win (Silverstone) and went on to record four further wins to finish second behind Ferrari on the constructors' table.

The team went one better in 1980 as the constructors' championship duly arrived and they won it again in 1981.

The team also had success with a drivers' championship in 1980 for Alan Jones and 1982 for Keke Rosberg - a strange season in which the Finn managed only one win.

In 1985 Williams signed a deal with Honda, a partnership that would take them to the 1986 and 1987 constructors' titles.

However, the defection of Honda to rivals McLaren in 1988 was a huge blow to Williams, resulting in them having to use the Judd engine for a singularly dreadful season and losing Nigel Mansell to Ferrari.

In 1989 Williams secured a deal with French company Renault and slowly began to recover their form, although it was not until 1991 that they mounted another serious attempt on the championship.

In 1992 and 1993 Williams stamped their authority on the F1 in emphatic style as they took the constructors' and drivers' championships with Mansell and Prost on the grid.

Another constructors' win followed in 1994 despite the death of Ayrton Senna after just three races.

1995 proved a change from the norm as they lost out to the Benetton team but normality, and the constructors' title, was restored in 1996 and 1997.

However, the end of the association with Renault before the 1998 season heralded a difficult year with an unreliable and under-powered Mecachrome engine.

In 1998 and 1999 Williams struggled with the Mecachrome/Supertec, but it was a losing battle.

Despite heroic performances from Ralf Schumacher the team suffered two of the worst seasons in its history.

For 2000 they had a new engine, courtesy of BMW, and the new package was competitive virtually out of the box with Ralf taking a fine third in Australia.

Although the Williams was no match for the Ferrari or McLaren, it was definitely the best of the rest courtesy of some fine performances from Ralf and youngest-ever points scorer Jenson Button.

For 2001 Williams retained Ralf and partnered him with Colombian CART champion Juan Pablo Montoya.

Sir Frank has never been afraid to go against public opinion as he proved when he controversially dropped both Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill after their championship-winning seasons.

Button was loaned out to Benetton in favour of Montoya, and the decision proved a good one. JPM immediately turned on the speed and made his name with an overtaking move on Michael Schumacher in Brazil.

The success graph was in an upwards curve in 2001 as Ralf won three races and Montoya one.

Surely they would challenge more in 2002? Sadly not.

Aero faults with the FW24 were put down to a lack of attention from the departing aerodynamicist Geoff Willis and despite still having the most powerful engine on the grid, the team only came good for one race win.

Montoya made seven poles (including five in a row) but was denied a win in Malaysia by Michael Schumacher understeering into him at the first corner. Thus brother Ralf picked up the team's only victory by default.

Despite finishing second in the constructors' championship, running an engine that could produce 19,000+ revs and Juan setting a new fastest-ever lap at Monza, it was a disappointing season.

2003 though was a much better season for the team, who came close to overthrowing Ferrari in the constructors’ battle, thanks to four victories and numerous podium finishes.

A late spurt from Ferrari though saw Williams finish 14 points adrift.

The team unveiled a radical car for the 2004 season, sporting ‘tusks’ on its unique front wing.

It proved to be a mistake, however: the results were as ugly as the car.

By the end of the season, the tusks had been ditched, replaced with a conventional single-keel front-wing.

Out too went Patrick Head, the long-standing technical director to be replaced by Australian Sam Michael.

The state of flux was exacerbated by disappointing performances of Montoya, who had already signed for McLaren, and Ralf who announced in August that he was departing to Toyota.

As expected the team signed Mark Webber as a replacement, but were foiled in their attempts to re-sign Jenson Button - although he did agree to join the team the following year.

Not until 20 minutes before the launch of their 2005 charger in January was test driver Antonio Pizzonia informed that Nick Heidfeld had beaten him in the fight for the second seat.

It was a remarkable state of affairs, symbolic of the paralysis that has apparently seeped into the management of a team struggling to retain its status as one of F1's big guns.

That status was further damaged in 2005 when instead of fighting back the team sank even deeper.

Third-choice driver Heidfeld was the only bright light in a dreadful season.

He began the year with three podiums in six races, while first-choice Webber netted just one.

But despite introducing improvements to the FW27 in the hope of winning a race, the car went backwards with Heidfeld and Webber finding themselves trapped in the middle of the pack.

However the team still managed to finish the campaign in the top half on the teams' log, albeit in fifth place.

Williams' woes though weren’t restricted to the track only as when the engines quieted down the real drama began.

As a consequence of their dismal season, a blame game between themselves and BMW began which resulted in the car manufacturer ending their relationship with Williams in favour of buying the Sauber team.

Major sponsor HP also withdrew their backing, while Button, who had been so keen to join Williams a year previously, decided Honda could offer him a better chance of winning the drivers’ title and bought his way out of his contract.

For 2006 Sir Frank Williams has signed Cosworth as his team’s engine supplier - a move that could go either way for his team - while the loss of Heidfeld to BMW, means Nico Rosberg has been given his big break - another questionable move.

Only time will tell whether the 2006 season is one of magic or misery for Williams.