Williams FW20

Design

Ahead of the season, Williams were adversely affected by the departure of Chief Designer Adrian Newey to McLaren, and Renault's withdrawal from F1 as an engine supplier. Newey and Renault had made Williams the dominant team of the early and mid-1990s. Whilst Newey had departed at the end of the 1996 season, he had directly contributed to the championship winning FW19. This made the FW20 the first non-Newey designed car since 1990. Cosmetically the FW20 resembled the FW19 with journalist Joe Saward noting the FW20 followed the same basic design concept as the FW19 with adaptations made to comply with 1998 regulations. The car was equipped with a Mecachrome-badged version of what was essentially the previous year's Renault engine.

At the car's launch in January, Patrick Head and Geoff Willis admitted that the FW20 was a fairly conservative design but stressed that they were still hopeful of being competitive.

Season summary

Williams began testing the FW20 ahead of the launch in January 1998, utilising parts from the new car and the previous season's FW19. A key change between seasons was the introduction of grooved tyres, although Williams remained with supplier Goodyear. At the opening round in Melbourne, Frentzen finished third, albeit a lap down on the leading two McLarens. Overall however, this would be one of the few highlights of the FW20 during 1998.

Villeneuve never looked in serious contention to defend his drivers' title, nor was the team as a whole a serious contender to retain their constructors' crown with the FW20 which was not competitive relative to the 1998 front running cars - the Adrian Newey-designed McLaren MP4/13 and the Ferrari F300. Villeneuve scored points at nine Grands Prix with season-high third place finishes at the and the . During practice for the , he lost control of his car in the Eau Rouge corner and crashed backwards into the barrier at approximately 170 mph. Villeneuve was unhurt. With 21 points, he finished fifth in the Drivers' Championship.

For Frentzen, the opening round podium would be his season highlight, scoring points only on six further occasions with a high of fourth place in Belgium. The German driver suffered five consecutive DNFs including collisions both in Monaco with Eddie Irvine at Lowes hairpin, and at Canada where a clash with Michael Schumacher saw him spin and retire.

1998 was Williams' first season without a win since 1988 and they would finish a distant third behind McLaren and Ferrari in the constructors championship. At the end of the season, Villeneuve and Frentzen would depart for British American Racing and Jordan Grand Prix respectively.

Williams new 1999 drivers Ralf Schumacher and Alex Zanardi tested the FW20 at Barcelona after the season had concluded, with Schumacher scoring table topping times. The FW20 would also be tested by Juan Pablo Montoya, Tommi Mäkinen and Mick Doohan.

Sponsorship and livery

In a departure from past seasons, the previous white and blue Williams livery was replaced by a striking all red colour scheme with white and gold accent colours. This significant colour change to the teams visual identity was due to main sponsor Rothmans opting to use the space they had vacated to promote sister brand Winfield as the team's new title sponsor.

Therefore, Williams used 'Winfield' logos on the FW20, except at the French, British and German Grands Prix where they were replaced with a Winfield kangaroo emblem and a leaping kangaroo instead. In the French Grand Prix, the Veltins logo was completely removed. These changes to the livery occurred at events where tobacco and alcohol advertising were forbidden.

The Universal Studios and Woody Woodpecker logos also featured on the nose cone in certain Grands Prix. At the Australian Grand Prix, the team promoted the film, Blues Brothers 2000, also featured on the nose cone.

Later use

On December 1999, an FW20 was painted in white livery, fitted with a BMW V10 engine and ran on Bridgestone tyres. The car was test driven by Jörg Müller.

Complete Formula One results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position)

References

Sources

• AUTOCOURSE 1998-99, Henry, Alan (ed.), Hazleton Publishing Ltd. (1998)

References

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2. "Williams FW20 - F1technical.net".
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6. "Rewind: McLaren's 1998 switch sparks controversy".
7. "Monaco Grand Prix Review".
8. "Canadian Grand Prix Review".
9. (22 February 2019). "Beginning of the end- Williams FW20 #blogpost".
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11. "1998 End of the Year Report".
12. "The Revolving Door of Williams".
13. "News wrap-up for this week's testing".
14. "Formula One testing 1998".
15. "Rothmans To Discontinue Sponsorship to Williams Formula One Team".
16. "ANALYSIS: Can F1 win it for Winfield? - A roar of red replaces Rothmans' King Size blue as the tobacco giant switches its Formula 1 sponsorship to the Winfield brand. Danny Rogers looks at what may emerge from the pits".