For the season, Patrick Head designed his first Williams car: the FW06. Williams signed Australian Alan Jones, who had won the the previous season for a devastated Shadow team following the death of their lead driver, Tom Pryce. Jones's first race for the team was the where he qualified the lone Williams car in 14th position but retired after 36 laps with a fuel system failure. The team scored its first championship points two rounds later at the when Jones finished fourth. Williams managed their first podium position at the , where the Australian came second, some 20 seconds behind the Ferrari of future Williams driver Carlos Reutemann. Williams ended the season in ninth place in the Constructors' Championship, with a respectable 11 points, while Alan Jones finished 11th in the Drivers' Championship. Towards the end of 1978 Frank Williams recruited Frank Dernie to join Patrick Head in the design office.