The FW18s were driven by Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve. The car proved to be the most successful of the entire 1996 field; winning 12 of the 16 races during the season, with Hill winning 8 and Villeneuve winning 4. The FW18 was also the car in which Damon Hill won the Drivers' Championship title, making him the first son of a World Champion to become a Champion himself. The FW18 was also the second of three cars during the 1990s to enjoy a 1–2 finish on its Grand Prix debut, the first being the Williams FW14B at the 1992 South African Grand Prix and the third being the McLaren MP4/13 at the 1998 Australian Grand Prix. The FW18 scored 175 points in its time and was one of the most successful Formula One cars of the 1990s.[2]
Design
Powered by a 3.0 litre RenaultV10 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.[3] 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 9,000km refining the new car.[4] It was well balanced and pleasant to drive, responded well to setup changes, and was comfortable to sit in.[5]
Season performance
Jacques Villeneuve driving the Williams FW18 Formula One car at the 1996 Canadian Grand Prix. The Canadian would finish second, behind his teammate, Damon Hill. The Grand Prix was one of six occasions when the FW18s finished first and second.
Williams retained Damon Hill for 1996, who helped to develop the FW18, and the car seemed to respond well to his smooth driving style,[citation needed] while his new teammate, Formula One rookie Jacques Villeneuve, also quickly adapted to the FW18. The car was extremely reliable, as FW18s completed 1778 laps of a possible 2028, more than any other car that season.[6] The car responded well to set-up changes and was competitive on all types of circuits, with at least one Williams driver on the podium for every race, excluding the Monaco and Italian Grands Prix.
The FW18's dominance was also due in part to the recent personnel changes at rival teams. Benetton (running the B196s of Gerhard Berger and Jean Alesi for 1996), which had previously bested Williams in the past two seasons, had lost Michael Schumacher and several key technical people to Ferrari. However, the Ferrari F310s that Schumacher and Eddie Irvine had at their disposal were unreliable and it would not be until 1997 that they could challenge for the Constructors' title.
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 from 1988.
Hill and Villeneuve fought a good natured but close intra-team title fight, with Hill winning six of the opening nine races to open up a points cushion, which he successfully defended in the second half of the season after Villeneuve began to mount a title challenge, the foundations of which were built upon a run of seven consecutive mid-season podium finishes.
The Championship title was eventually decided in the Englishman's favour at the final round in Japan after 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 title 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.
Williams retained their title sponsorship from Rothmans for a third season and with it kept the blue and white livery along with the company's racing stripes of gold and red along the bodywork. The cars showcased Rothmans logos, except at the European, French, British and German Grands Prix; which was replaced by either "Racing" or a barcode with a tricoloured generic rectangle that associated with the brand. In the French Grand Prix, the logo from sponsor Black Tower on the cars nosecone was removed.
Later uses
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. In June 2017, it was announced that the car will reappear in F1 2017 along with the FW14B. In July 2018, it was announced that the car will again reappear as one of the returning classic cars in F1 2018, F1 2019 and F1 2020.
Complete Formula One results
(key) (results in bold indicate pole position, results in italics indicate fastest lap)
Williams Racing, legally known as Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, is a British Formula One team and constructor. It was founded by Frank Williams (1942–2021) and Patrick Head. The team was formed in 1977 after Frank Williams's earlier unsuccessful F1 operation, Frank Williams Racing Cars. The team is based in Grove, Oxfordshire, on a 60-acre (24 ha) site.
Benetton Formula Limited., commonly referred to simply as Benetton, was a Formula One constructor that participated from 1986 to 2001. The team was owned by the Benetton family who run a worldwide chain of clothing stores. In 2000, the team was purchased by Renault, but competed as Benetton for the 2000 and 2001 seasons. In 2002, the team became Renault. The Benetton Formula team was chaired by Alessandro Benetton from 1988 to 1998.
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The 1994 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 31 July 1994 at the Hockenheimring, Hockenheim. It was the ninth race of the 1994 Formula One World Championship.
The 1995 European Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 1 October 1995 at the Nürburgring, Nürburg, Germany. It was the fourteenth race of the 1995 Formula One World Championship and the first to be held there since 1985. Michael Schumacher for the Benetton team won the 67-lap race starting from third position. Jean Alesi finished second in a Ferrari, with David Coulthard, who started the Grand Prix from pole position, third in a Williams car. This was also the last F1 race for three drivers: Massimiliano Papis, Gabriele Tarquini, and Jean-Denis Délétraz.
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The 1997 Japanese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 12 October 1997 at the Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka. It was the 16th and penultimate race of the 1997 Formula One season. The 53-lap race was won by Michael Schumacher for the Ferrari team after starting from second position. Heinz-Harald Frentzen finished second in a Williams, and Eddie Irvine third in the other Ferrari. Irvine led much of the race before moving over to assist Schumacher's championship battle by blocking Drivers' Championship leader Jacques Villeneuve.
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The 1996 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 50th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. The championship commenced on 10 March and ended on 13 October after sixteen races. Two World Championship titles were awarded, one for Drivers and one for Constructors.
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Formula One sponsorship liveries have been used since the 1968 season. Before the arrival of sponsorship liveries in 1968 the nationality of the team determined the colour of a car entered by the team, e.g. cars entered by Italian teams were rosso corsa red, cars entered by French teams were bleu de France blue, and cars entered by British teams were British racing green. Major sponsors such as BP, Shell, and Firestone had pulled out of the sport ahead of this season, prompting the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile to allow unrestricted sponsorship.
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Damon Hill 
Jacques Villeneuve 
