Loading AI tools
Racing car model From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Williams FW21 was the car with which the Williams team competed in the 1999 Formula One World Championship. It was driven by German Ralf Schumacher, who had swapped from Jordan with compatriot Heinz-Harald Frentzen, and Italian Alessandro Zanardi, who had last raced in Formula One in 1994 but had since won the CART championship twice.
Alex Zanardi driving the FW21 at the 1999 Canadian Grand Prix | |||||||||||
| Category | Formula One | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Constructor | Williams | ||||||||||
| Designer(s) | Patrick Head (Technical Director) Gavin Fisher (Chief Designer) Brian O'Roake (Chief Composites Engineer) Mark Tatham (Chief Mechanical Engineer) Geoff Willis (Head of Aerodynamics) Jason Somerville (Principal Aerodynamicist) Nick Alcock (Principal Aerodynamicist) | ||||||||||
| Predecessor | Williams FW20 | ||||||||||
| Successor | Williams FW22 | ||||||||||
| Technical specifications | |||||||||||
| Chassis | Carbon-fibre monocoque | ||||||||||
| Suspension (front) | Williams double wishbone, pushrod | ||||||||||
| Suspension (rear) | Williams double wishbone, pushrod | ||||||||||
| Engine | Renault RS9 (branded as Supertec) FB01 3.0-litre V10 (71°) naturally aspirated mid-engined | ||||||||||
| Transmission | Williams 6-speed longitudinal semi-automatic sequential | ||||||||||
| Power | 780 hp @ 15,800 rpm[1] | ||||||||||
| Fuel | Petrobras | ||||||||||
| Lubricants | Castrol | ||||||||||
| Tyres | Bridgestone | ||||||||||
| Competition history | |||||||||||
| Notable entrants | Winfield Williams | ||||||||||
| Notable drivers | 5.  Alessandro Zanardi6.  Ralf Schumacher | ||||||||||
| Debut | 1999 Australian Grand Prix | ||||||||||
| Last event | 1999 Japanese Grand Prix | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Constructors' Championships | 0 | ||||||||||
| Drivers' Championships | 0 | ||||||||||
This was also the team's last season using a Renault engine (badged as a customer Supertec) until one was fitted in the race winning FW34 in 2012; with a new works deal with BMW for the 2000 season.[2] [3]
Although Schumacher had a successful season and was a consistent front-runner with the all-new design of the FW21, Zanardi struggled all season with the handling characteristics of the then-recently introduced grooved tyres and failed to score a point. He was dropped at the end of the year in favour of Formula Three driver Jenson Button.
The team eventually finished fifth in the Constructors' Championship, with 35 points, all scored by Schumacher and thus Williams ended up with their worst season since 1990.
This was the second and final year for Williams had a sponsorship deal with a cigarette brand Winfield as the team's main sponsor. Williams used 'Winfield' logos, except at the French and British Grands Prix, where it was replaced with "WilliamsF1". In Canada, the kangaroo emblem was replaced with a boomerang-styled emblem. In French, Veltins logo was replaced with "Veltins alkoholfrei" but it was covered up by a barcode for scale models and video games.
A "B" spec car was used for testing the BMW V10 engine for their return in 2000 season. Later, the car were run on Michelin tyres, testing them in preparation for their return in the 2001 season.
(key) (results in bold indicate pole position, results in italic indicate fastest laps)
| Year | Team | Engine | Tyres | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Points | WCC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Williams | Supertec FB01 V10 | B | AUS | BRA | SMR | MON | ESP | CAN | FRA | GBR | AUT | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | EUR | MAL | JPN | 35 | 5th | |
| Alessandro Zanardi | Ret | Ret | 11† | 8 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 11 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 8 | 7 | Ret | 10 | Ret | ||||||
| Ralf Schumacher | 3 | 4 | Ret | Ret | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | Ret | 4 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 4 | Ret | 5 |
Notes:
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
