THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON — Williams F1 will switch to Renault engines from next season in the hope of rediscovering some of the success that the Formula One team enjoyed with the supplier during its glory years in the 1990s.
After struggling for a year and a half with Cosworth engines, Williams said Monday that it signed a two-year agreement to secure access to the Renault RS27 V8 engine that powered Red Bull to the 2010 championship.
Williams won four world drivers’ and five constructors’ championships with Renault engines between 1992 and 1997, when the team picked up the last of its nine constructors’ titles.
Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve of Iberville, Que., all won the individual honour while driving a Williams-Renault.
"Our previous relationship with Renault was one of the most successful in Williams’ history, but we will not allow ourselves to dwell too much on the past," team principal Frank Williams said. "We must look to the future and continue to rebuild our on-track reputation, which I am hopeful that today’s announcement will help us to do."
Williams finished a distant sixth place in last season’s championship with 69 points, 429 behind overall champion Red Bull and 94 behind fifth-placed Renault F1.
Renault engines will power four teams in 2012, giving the manufacturer huge international exposure.
"There’s also a great pride in reviving the Williams-Renault name," Renault Sport F1 president Bernard Rey said. "Together, we produced racing cars that are recognized for their technical innovation and it is still Renault’s most successful period in F1 to date."
Williams says it wants to extend the partnership into 2014, when turbocharged V6 engines will be standard.
"We’re not satisfied with just finishing races or picking up a few points," Williams chairman Adam Parr said. "Our aim is to win and we want to put ourselves back in a position to do so. Clearly, our performance at the moment is not where would like it to be, but we are doing all we can to rectify that and this partnership is another step in that process."
Williams had a respectable five retirements from 19 races last season, but it failed to make the podium and its best finish was a single fourth place at the European Grand Prix. It is ninth after eight races this year, with only two ninth-place finishes to show for its efforts.