Sir Frank Williams admitted he made a ‘mistake’ when dropping 22-win driver from his F1 team

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The Williams Formula 1 team are in a very different place now from when Sir Frank Williams was in charge.

Williams made their debut as a constructor in F1 in 1978 when Frank Williams watched Alan Jones’ car fail to finish the Argentine Grand Prix due to a fuel system fault.

Little did he or anyone else at the Grove-based team know that this was the start of a journey that would lead to multiple world championships.

The other teams that made their debut on the grid that day – ATS, Theodore and Merzario – have been long gone for some time, but Williams’ list of achievements are remarkable.

Current team principal James Vowles has admitted sacrifices need to be made for Williams to once again be fighting for titles.

The British outfit have won nine Constructors’ Championships and seven Drivers’ Championships, although they’ve not secured either title since 1997.

Some of the greatest drivers in the history of Formula 1 have passed through their factory doors over the years.

The likes of Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet, Alain Prost and Jacques Villeneuve all won world championships with the team.

However, in a discussion on Autosport’s Secrets and History of the Williams F1 Legend, Frank Williams’ son Jonathan explained his father’s feelings towards another of the team’s champions – Damon Hill.

Hill won the F1 world championship in 1996 but halfway through the season discovered he had already been replaced, something Williams’s father admitted later in his life was an error.

Frank Williams made a ‘mistake’ not retaining Damon Hill after F1 championship win

Explaining the situation alongside Sky Sports pundit and racing driver Karun Chandhok, Jonathan Williams said: “I think certainly in the last year or so of his life, it was sort of important to… actually something that was unusual with him [Frank Williams], which was reminiscing was actually quite good because it sort of stimulated him a little bit.

“And you could talk and we spoke about Damon and he did actually say to me, he said to me actually from a sporting point of view, it was a mistake not to continue with Damon.

“But there was a bigger picture that I was finding quite difficult.

“And I think what was sort of happening around the table of negotiations for the contract.

READ MORE: Damon Hill recalls how he once upset Formula 1 legend Alain Prost with ‘too French’ remark

“And I think Karun [Chandhok] and I have discussed it before, I think Damon now knows this, I don’t think Damon came equipped with some of the best people.

“Not in terms of their competence, but in terms of the level of attitude and respect that they sort of threw across the table or lack of it that they threw across the table at my father and the people with him.

“But he certainly admitted that probably Damon Hill was somebody that we should have kept hold of [in] 1997, however long it would have been.”

Why Damon Hill’s exit from Williams made so little sense?

Hill spent four seasons at Williams and was joined by Villeneuve for the final campaign when the team started to realise what a talent the Canadian was.

However, Heinz-Harald Frentzen was impressing for Sauber and it was decided that he should be brought in alongside Villeneuve before Hill could even complete his one and only championship season.

Frentzen’s signing was announced four races before the end of the season when Hill had a 17-point advantage over Villeneuve in the championship when a win was only worth 10 points.

READ MORE: All to know about Williams Racing from team principal to Mercedes ties

At the penultimate race in Portugal he sealed the title and Murray Walker’s famous, ‘I’ve got a lump in my throat’ line comes from Hill winning the final race of the season in Japan when he knew his time with the team was over.

Frentzen was beloved by his team principals in F1 but never lived up to his potential, and it’s easy to see why Williams regrets letting Hill go.

He endured a torrid time at Arrows the following year as the reigning champion and after two seasons at Jordan, decided to retire.

Hill won 22 races during his Formula 1 career which was very impressive considering he made his debut relatively late at the age of 31.

But he may have been left wondering if he should have achieved more and potentially beaten Villeneuve to the title in 1997 had he not been let go prematurely.