Icons: Sir Frank Williams

Frank Williams (left); Williams FW10 (center); Patrick Head (right)

Shaping up to be one of the strangest seasons in modern Formula 1, every race in the 2012 season so far has handed a victory to a different driver and a different team. In fact, the inconsistent performance and results from one venue to the next have been so mind boggling, interviews with even the most experienced of drivers and engineers from top tier teams could only provide us with a tepid, "I don't know," "we will see," "It's difficult to say," or "Hopefully we can gain performance from our upcoming upgrades."

Given the nature of the season so far, I prophesied that a victory for Williams wouldn't be out of the question. All it takes is a little havoc -- a wet race, a safety car, anything unforeseen. But when young Pastor Maldonado finally provided Williams its first Grand Prix victory since Brazil in 2004, what was most surprising of all was to see the team bring it all together so soon and with such authority -- leading from pole. Adding some romance to Williams' achievement, the victory was also regarded as a belated birthday present for Sir Frank Williams as he celebrated his 70th birthday not too long ago. Sadly, a bizarre garage fire would disrupt WilliamsF1's moment of glory only 90 minutes after Maldonado clinched the race win.

Pastor Maldonado earns first WilliamsF1 victory since 2004

In total, Williams F1 competed in a total of 577 Grands Prix, taken 7 Driver's Championships, 9 Constructor's, 114 race wins, and started the race from pole 127 times. Not bad, considering Eddie Jordan called Williams a minnow team.

While Eddie Jordan's remark might seem like a dig at Williams, it isn't completely untrue. In fact, Williams' reputation as an underdog is one of the traits that made the team so appealing.