Looking back at the 2011 Formula One season the AT&T Williams F1 team would finish a disappointing ninth in the Constructors championship with just five points. After finishing sixth in 2010 the drop down the order was hard to take for both the team and fans. As for team drivers Rubens Barrichello and Pastor Maldonado Rubens would only finish the season with two eighth place finishes in Monaco and Canada. Pastor would only score a single point for a tenth place in Belgium. Between the pair they would also suffer nine DNF's during the season.

With hopes of moving upward from their 2010 results the Williams team started the 2011 season encouraged by their testing form but it would not take long before the team saw their hopes for an improved season start to fade. Despite having a vastly experienced driver in Barrichello and another who had shown obvious talent in the GP2 feeder series it did not take long for the problems with the FW33 to become apparent, even with such advances as the teams new low gearbox. As the season progressed both drivers would start to fall down the order in their qualifying as well as in their race results, even with a small sign of improvement in some of the early European races, the most notable was an encouraging performance from Pastor in Monaco. Despite the team working through a series of upgrades for the FW33 the situation really did not improve.

Also on the staff front their was changes occurring with several team members, the most notable being Williams F1 Technical Director Sam Michael and Chief Aerodynamicist Jon Tomlinson, leaving the team. It was apparent that the focus was now on the 2012 season with their been little hope of seeing a major turnaround in the teams fortunes in 2011.

Even with Rubens two ninth places in Monaco and Canada any feeling that the team was making progress rapidly disappeared with both drivers struggling to get close to making it into the top ten in qualifying let along producing a good race result. As the season progressed both drivers would fail to put in performances that saw them move from their rear of the grid performances and the only other points scored was a tenth from Pastor in Belgium. By season's end we had the sight of the Williams team suffering their poorest qualifying performances in Abu Dhabi. Over the 2011 season when both drivers did finish the race we only saw them finish on the lead lap just six times in thirty eight starts. The car had would also suffer reliability issues during the season seven race-ending failures during the season, several of which were transmission related and others from KERS failures. It was a tough year for Williams but what Formula One team has not had a tough year.

Where does this once-great F1 team go from here? It was announced during the season that the Williams team would be renewing their partnership with Renault in place of Cosworth for 2012. This would certainly offer a major improvement on the engine side by it will come down to whether the team can produce a new design for 2012 that will see them reverse their fall down the order. The team has also employed Mike Coughlan and Mark Gillian to take over the technical side of things which will hopefully see an improvement with the 2012 FW34. On the driver front the Williams team has confirmed that Pastor would be returning for 2012 but as to who his partner will be in an unknown, despite Rubens keenness to stay with the team.

The Williams team has a long history of success and they know how to win and will continue to work towards that end. They are certainly prepared to make the necessary changes to see their fortunes turn around. 2012 could turn out to be a make or break year for the team but it is now down to waiting for the FW34 to arrive and then we can make a better assessment as to the teams 2012 prospects.