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.
The car appears in the games 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 Williams FW14B. In July 2018, it was announced that the car will again reappear as one of the returning classic cars in F1 2018.
Complete Formula One results
(key) (results in bold indicate pole position, results in italics indicate fastest lap)
Jean Robert Alesi is a French professional racing driver of Italian origin. He competed in Formula One between 1989 and 2001, including spells at Tyrrell, Benetton, Sauber, Prost, Jordan and Ferrari, where he proved very popular among the Tifosi. He won the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix, but this proved to be the only win of his Formula One career. During his time in Formula One, Alesi was particularly good in the wet and was a mercurial and passionate racer, whose emotions sometimes got the better of him.
The 1993 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monza on 12 September 1993. It was the thirteenth race of the 1993 Formula One World Championship.
The 1993 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Adelaide on 7 November 1993. It was the sixteenth and final race of the 1993 Formula One World Championship.
The 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 27 March 1994 at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo. It was the first race of the 1994 Formula One World Championship.
The 1994 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Silverstone on 10 July 1994. It was the eighth race of the 1994 Formula One World Championship.
The 1995 Japanese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka on 29 October 1995. It was the sixteenth and penultimate race of the 1995 Formula One World Championship. The 53-lap race was won from pole position by German Michael Schumacher, driving a Benetton-Renault, with Finn Mika Häkkinen second in a McLaren-Mercedes and Schumacher's British teammate Johnny Herbert third.
The 1996 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 30 June 1996 at Circuit de Nevers, Magny-Cours, France. It was the ninth race of the 1996 Formula One season. Michael Schumacher qualified in pole position but his engine blew on the warm-up lap and he did not start the race. The 72-lap race was won by Damon Hill for the Williams team, from a second position start. Jacques Villeneuve finished second in the other Williams, with local driver Jean Alesi third for the Benetton team.
The 1996 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 25 August 1996 at Spa-Francorchamps. It was the thirteenth race of the 1996 FIA Formula One World Championship.
The 1996 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 8 September 1996 at Monza. It was the fourteenth race of the 1996 Formula One World Championship.
The 1996 Japanese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Suzuka on 13 October 1996. It was the sixteenth and final race of the 1996 Formula One World Championship.
The 1997 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne on 9 March 1997. It was the first race of the 1997 Formula One World Championship, and the second Australian Grand Prix to be held in Melbourne.
The 1997 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on 11 May 1997 at the Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo. It was the fifth race of the 1997 Formula One World Championship. The 62-lap race was won by Michael Schumacher, driving a Ferrari, after starting from second position. Rubens Barrichello finished second in a Stewart-Ford, with Eddie Irvine third in the other Ferrari.
The 1997 Luxembourg Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Nürburgring, Nürburg, Germany on 28 September 1997. It was the fifteenth race of the 1997 Formula One World Championship.
The 1999 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 27 June 1999 at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours near Magny-Cours, France. It was the seventh race of the 1999 Formula One season. The 72-lap race was won by Heinz-Harald Frentzen driving a Jordan car after starting from fifth position. Mika Häkkinen finished second driving for McLaren, with Rubens Barrichello finishing third for the Stewart team. The remaining points-scoring positions were filled by Ralf Schumacher (Williams), Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), Eddie Irvine (Ferrari).
The 1998 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 52nd season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1998 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1998 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contested concurrently over a sixteen-race series that commenced on 8 March and ended on 1 November. Finland's Mika Häkkinen won his first Drivers' Championship, and McLaren-Mercedes won the Constructors' Championship, the first for the McLaren team since 1991.
The 1997 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 51st season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It commenced on 9 March and ended on 26 October after seventeen races. The Drivers' Championship was won by Jacques Villeneuve and the Constructors' Championship was awarded to Williams-Renault.
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.
Adrian Martin Newey, is a British Formula One engineer. He is the chief technical officer of the Red Bull Racing F1 team. Newey has worked in both Formula One and IndyCar racing as a race engineer, aerodynamicist, designer and technical director and enjoyed success in both categories.
The Williams FW19 was the car with which the Williams team competed in the 1997 Formula One World Championship. It was driven by Jacques Villeneuve, in his second year with the team, and Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who moved from Sauber to replace the dropped 1996 champion, Damon Hill. Williams also employed test drivers Jean-Christophe Boullion and Juan Pablo Montoya.
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Damon Hill 
Jacques Villeneuve 
