Williams FW15C

Racing car
Car_name = Williams FW15C


Category = Formula One
Constructor = Williams
Designer = Patrick Head
Adrian Newey
Team = Canon Williams Renault
Drivers = 0. Damon Hill
2. Alain Prost
Chassis = carbon-fibre and honeycomb composite structure
Front suspension = pushrod, Williams hydropneumatic active suspension system
Rear suspension = pushrod, Williams hydropneumatic active suspension system
Engine name = Renault RS5
Capacity =
Configuration = 67-degree V10
Turbo/NA = naturally aspirated
Engine position =
Gearbox name = Williams
Gears = six-speed
Type = transverse
Differential =
Fuel = Elf
Tyres = Goodyear
Debut = 1993 South African Grand Prix
Races = 16
Wins = 10
Cons_champ = 1 (1993)
Drivers_champ = 1 (Alain Prost, 1993)
Poles = 15
Fastest_laps = 10
The Williams FW15C was a Renault-powered Formula One car designed and built by Williams Grand Prix Engineering and raced by Alain Prost and Damon Hill during the 1993 Formula One season.

As the car that won both the drivers' and constructors' championships in the last season before the FIA banned electronic driver aids, the FW15C has a decent claim to be the most technologically sophisticated Formula One car of all time, incorporating anti-lock brakes, traction control and active suspension. [cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/cars_guide/4272031.stm |title=The changing face of F1 |publisher=BBC Sport |date=2005-02-28 |accessdate=2008-01-23]

The Chassis

Building on the hugely successful FW14B which took Nigel Mansell and Williams to both titles in 1992, the car was the first all-new car to be produced by Patrick Head and Adrian Newey. With Newey's input aerodynamically the FW15 was a significant improvement on its predecessor, with a narrower nose, sleeker airbox and engine cover and carefully sculpted sidepods. Another new feature was the larger rear wing used at high-downforce circuits which featured an extra element ahead and above the main wing.

The car was available in August 1992, but given the success and improved reliability of the FW14B, prudence dictated that the new car did not make its debut until the following year's season-opener in South Africa. As a result of the huge difference in build of their two drivers (Alain Prost was nearly a foot shorter than Damon Hill), Williams eventually opted to build two slightly different FW15C tubs, so as to accommodate Hill's size 12 feet, as he had repeatedly complained of cramp in the tight confines around the pedals.

The Engine

Renault went into their fifth year with Williams and again proved to be the class of the field, with their RS5 67^o V10 engine producing convert|760|bhp|abbr=on, at least convert|30|hp more than Benetton and McLaren's Ford V8, and with less of a penalty in terms of extra fuel carried than Ferrari's thirsty 041 3.5 V12. Renault had acquired a reputation for almost bullet-proof reliability but Williams did suffer three engine failures during races in 1993, although on each occasion the sister car won the race.

The French Grand Prix was a PR dream for Renault, with a French driver leading home the team's only 1-2 finish of the year, while Hill's victory at the Belgian race was Renault's 50th Formula One win.

The "Gizmos"

By 1993 Formula One had become very much a high-tech arena and the FW15C was at the very forefront, featuring active suspension, anti-lock brakes, traction control, telemetry, fly-by-wire contols, pneumatic valve springs, power steering, semi-automatic transmission and also continuously variable transmission, although this was only used in testing. As a result Alain Prost described the car as "a little Airbus".

While anti-lock brakes and traction control made driving the car on the limit easier, added complication arose from occasions when the computer systems wrongly interpreted the information they were receiving from their sensors, the active suspension being particularly prone to this from time to time.
With so many computer systems on board the car required three laptop computers to be connected to it every time it was fired up, one each for the engine, the telemetry and the suspension.

So great was the level of technology on the cars that FIA decided to ban several of what they considered to be "driver aids" with immediate effect following the British Grand Prix, leading to the so-called "Weikershof Protocol", by which the ban was postponed to the start of 1994.

The Drivers

An all new driver line-up was featured. Triple world champion Alain Prost had signed with Williams for the 1993 season, having spent the previous year out of motorsport competition on a sabatical. Reigning Champion Nigel Mansell departed Formula One, over a dispute with Frank Williams with money and the signing of Prost, to race in the American CART series for 1993, while Riccardo Patrese moved to Benetton-Ford. Mika Häkkinen was considered for the vacancy left behind before the team decided to promote Damon Hill, the team's test driver for the past two years, who had made two starts for Brabham in 1992. Williams retained this driver pairing in all 16 races in 1993.

Triple World Champion Ayrton Senna, who had previously had a test with Williams in 1983, had repeatedly tried to get Frank Williams to sign him and even went so far as to offer his services for free, but a clause in Prost's contract specifically forbade Williams signing Senna as Prost's team-mate and the Brazilian instead opted to remain at McLaren on a race-by-race basis. However, Prost's clause only covered the 1993 season.

Another great year for Williams-Renault

Williams quickly established themselves as the team to beat, with Prost winning in South Africa by a margin of almost a lap over Senna’s McLaren. In Brazil Prost retired midway through, a victim of someone else’s accident, and Senna managed to get past Hill to win, with the Englishman registering his first podium and points in F1 in second. The third race of the season at Donington saw Senna’s most dominant performance, with Hill taking second and Prost inheriting third from Barrichello late on, the Frenchman’s race hampered by intermittent gearbox problems.

With three races gone Senna lay 12 points ahead of Prost, but it was already becoming clear that even Senna in his prime would struggle to keep ahead of the superior Williams car, and so it proved with the team going on a run of nine wins in the next ten races. Dominant displays from Prost at San Marino and Spain lifted him above Senna in the standings, but Senna regained the lead with his sixth and final win at Monaco before Prost’s Canada win give him back the lead.

By now Hill was starting to consistently challenge his team-mate. The Englishman was in touch with Prost nose to tail virtually throughout the French Grand Prix, and seemed to be set fair for his debut win in the British Grand Prix before a rare engine failure 18 laps from the end left the home crowd disappointed. In Germany Hill came even closer after a stop-go penalty held Prost up, but this time the Englishman’s rear tyre suffered a puncture on the penultimate lap, with Prost again inheriting the win.

In Hungary Hill finally got his first win, a task made easier after Prost stalled on the warm-up lap and had to start last. Prost fought his way up to fourth before a rear wing failure ended his bid for a points finish, but a retirement for Senna meant there was no ground lost. Hill made up for lost time completing a hat trick of wins in Belgium and Italy. Hill and Prost's 1-3 finishes, respectively, at Spa secured Williams their sixth Constructors’ Championship.

Senna had had a terrible run of fortune but was still in with a mathematical chance of the title as the teams met in Portugal, but Prost’s second place was enough to secure his fourth World Drivers’ Championship, prompting the Frenchman to announce his retirement at the end of the year. In the last two races Prost followed Senna home, which meant Hill dropped to third behind the Brazilian in the final Championship standings.

Complete Formula One results

() (results in bold indicate pole position)

References