FW18

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Lore & Background

The FW18 drew heavily on the 1995 Williams car, the FW17, but featured new driver protection as regulated by the FIA for the new season. The drivers sat lower in the cockpit, which lowered the car's centre of gravity, thus aiding the handling of the car. Newey's aerodynamics placed the car well ahead of the Benetton B196s of Gerhard Berger and Jean Alesi and the Ferrari F310s that Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine had at their disposal. In pre-season testing, Hill covered over 9,000 km refining the new car. It was well balanced and pleasant to drive, responded well to setup changes, and was comfortable to sit in. The FW18 was extremely reliable, as FW18s completed 1778 laps of a possible 2028, more than any other car that season. The car responded well to set-up changes and was competitive on all types of circuits, with Hill qualifying on the front row at every track and at least one Williams driver finishing on the podium for every race except for the Monaco and Italian Grands Prix, both of which saw Hill retire from the lead due to a wheel bearing failure at the former and a suspension failure at the latter.

In Their Own Story

The Championship title was eventually decided in the Englishman's favour at the final round in Suzuka after Hill won the Japanese Grand Prix and Villeneuve's car lost its right-rear wheel. This was after Williams team principal, Frank Williams, took the controversial decision to not re-sign Hill for the 1997 season. Also before the season concluded, designer Adrian Newey had been placed on 'gardening leave' as he would join McLaren for 1998. The departures of Hill and Newey would signal the beginning of the end of Williams dominance in Formula One, only narrowly winning the Driver's and Constructor's titles in 1997 and failing to win a race in 1998; although they remained competitive up until 2004, with Patrick Head at the helm of engineering.

Reader's Guide

Powered by a 3.0 litre Renault V10 engine, the FW18 drew heavily on the 1995 Williams car, the FW17, but featured new driver protection as regulated by the FIA for the new season. The drivers sat lower in the cockpit, which lowered the car's centre of gravity, thus aiding the handling of the car. Newey's aerodynamics placed the car well ahead of the Benetton B196s of Gerhard Berger and Jean Alesi and the Ferrari F310s that Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine had at their disposal. In pre-season testing, Hill covered over 9,000 km refining the new car. It was well balanced and pleasant to drive, responded well to setup changes, and was comfortable to sit in. The FW18 proved to be extremely successful during the season, as the car won twelve of the sixteen races and won the Constructors' Championship for Williams at the Hungarian Grand Prix with four rounds to spare. Their eventual winning margin of 105 points over second placed Ferrari was the second largest recorded in history at the time, behind only the McLaren MP4/4 that dominated the 1988 season.

Did You Know?

• The FW18 did not achieve a 1–2 finish on its Grand Prix debut; at the 1996 Australian Grand Prix, Hill won but Villeneuve retired.
• The FW18 scored 175 points in its time and was one of the most successful Formula One cars of the 1990s.
• Hill was re-united with the FW18 14 years after his championship year, as he demonstrated the car at the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix.
• The car appears in the games TOCA Race Driver 3, Formula One Championship Edition and F1 2013 as one of the classic cars in those games.