Iso-Marlboro FW Cosworth V8 F1 4° Italian GP Monza 1974

Young British team boss Frank Williams had already competed in the 1973 season with the ISO IR F1 designed by John Clarke. The Italian sports car manufacturer ISO had hoped to gain more publicity for its luxury sports cars with a Formula 1 commitment. However, the Italians had run into financial difficulties and the oil crisis did the rest, meaning that Frank Williams had to make do with the money provided by Marlboro. There was no notable budget for effective technical development. Nevertheless, Giampaolo Dallara was briefly recruited for the conversion of the design into the ISO-FW F1 of 1974.

In 1974, the abbreviation FW clearly signalled that the cars of the insolvent Italians from Bresso were now competing under the banner of Frank Williams. Marlboro man Arturo Merzario was the driver of choice for the first car, with a second ISO on the grid only from the third race onwards, driven successively by Tom Belso, Gijs van Lennep, J.P. Jabouille and Jacques Laffite. At his home Grand Prix at Monza, Merzario drove perhaps the race of his life. After a poor start in last place after the first lap, he fought his way through the field brilliantly in front of the Tifosi and finished a sensational 4th.