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Debut with Brabham(1991-1992)[]
Néron made his Formula One debut with the Brabham-Yamaha team at the 1991 British Grand Prix, driving car number 8, replacing Fabio Terzi as number 2 of the team. Bringing with him great hope, he made what he considered "Hitting a concrete wall", taking 22 then 21 place at the end of both practice sessions. He later admited that his exictment rushed his learning of the track, explaining his poor first prestation. He suffer another set back when he wasn't able to qualify better than a 19th place, compared to his teammate Florin Diaconescu who place the Brabham number 7 in 10th position. Néron retired early in the race with a broken suspension.
As the German Grand Prix came, Néron suffer again from poor results during the practice sessions, and ended up qualifiying last in 22nd position. The same day, Brabham team announced that they would give a chance to Néron next season, who later declare "I'm happy that, even with my poor performance, the team is ready to give me a chance to prove myself". The next day his race would be ruined by an oil leak, causing the engine to die on the 33rd lap, Néron was running 15th.
Hungary was next, this time Néron was ready and he prooved it by taking 11th place in the qualification. The race was perfect and Néron raced pass the finish line in 14th position, ahead of his teammate Diaconescu. "Next step, I'm going to take a point back with me. That is my next goal", he said with a big smile on his face.
The rest of the 1991 season would not live up to Néron's expectations, the Brabham suffered from many problems, forcing him to retire 4 times out of the 6 remaining grand prix. He would finish 13th at Spa-Francorchamps and Barcelona. After his retirement at Adelaide on the 18th lap, William was interviewed.
Journalist: This season didn't lived up to what you would have expected, how has this affected you since your arrival in Formula 1? Néron: Honestly, I can't say this had a positive effect on my moral, however this was my entry year, so I guess it was bound to be the hardest one. But difficulties aside, I think I've learned a lot in the past few races and I know that the team and my co-driver are supporting me. I still aim for my first points, and who knows what the future holds in reserve.
Has the 1992 season grow closer, Néron showed more confidence in his car than he ever have, he said that the BT-60B was a big improvement from last year, even he said, "[...] to the point of ch
allenging front runners.". His affirmation would be confirmed when Florin Diaconescu brought home a second place and the first points of Brabham in a long time. Néron would retire early has he miss judge a turn and crashed the car.
But Mexico came great hopes for the Canadian driver had he made a excellent run in pratices and even take an astonishing pole position. "I can't describe this feel, it's just... I don't know, wonderful!", he said with the whole Brabham crew cheering with him. The race would go really well and ended up with a podium for the Canadian. However the rest of the season would prove to be a deception as he would not enter top 10 on any remaining race, which would put in question if he could really live up to the expectations as is teamate would bring back 50 points and the second place of the drivers championship.
Sauber(1993)[]
With a new season came a new team, William would join up P.P Sauber AG and keep on with Florin Diaconescu as his teammate for a 3rd season. The team proposed a mid-pack car, but as of the Spanish Grand Prix, would only take home 3 points, all earned by Néron with a 4th place in Brazil. The car of 1993 was "A disaster in term of reliability, but the car has potential" as Néron put it after the race at San Marino.
Jordan(1994-1996)[]
Prost(1997-)[]
Statistics[]
Complete Formula 1 results[]
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)