Williams FW10

Williams FW10

Category	Formula One
Constructor	Williams
Designer(s)	Patrick Head Enrique Scalabroni
Predecessor	FW09B
Successor	FW11
Technical specifications[1]
Chassis	Moulded Carbon composite monocoque
Suspension (front)	Double wishbone, rocker-operated inboard spring damper
Suspension (rear)	Lower wishbone, rocker-operated inboard spring damper/Double wishbone, pullrod-operated inboard spring damper
Axle track	Front: 1,803 mm (71.0 in) Rear: 1,651 mm (65.0 in)
Wheelbase	2,794 mm (110.0 in)
Engine	Honda RA163-E, 1,494 cc (91.2 cu in), 80° V6, turbo, mid-engine, longitudinally mounted
Transmission	Williams / Hewland 6-speed Manual
Weight	545 kg (1,202 lb)
Fuel	Mobil
Tyres	Goodyear
Competition history
Notable entrants	Canon Williams Honda Team
Notable drivers	5. Nigel Mansell 6. Keke Rosberg
Debut	1985 Brazilian Grand Prix
Races Wins Poles F.Laps 16 4 3 4
Constructors' Championships	0
Drivers' Championships	0

The Williams FW10 was the Formula One car built and raced by the Williams team for the 1985 Formula One season. The team introduced an upgraded version of the car dubbed the FW10B late in the season.

Concept

The FW10 on display at the Honda Collection Hall in Japan.

1985 marked Williams' second full season with Honda turbo power. 1984 had been difficult, as the FW09 struggled to cope with the enormous power and brutal torque curve, leading to handling problems which afflicted drivers Keke Rosberg and Jacques Laffite throughout the season. Technical Director Patrick Head thus decided to make the FW10 stiffer by making the monocoque entirely from carbon composite, rather than the aluminium honeycomb construction of previous years- the first Williams F1 car ever to be made predominantly of this material. This construction technique had been pioneered by the McLaren team with their MP4/1 in 1981, and was in the process of being adopted by the other teams for its combination of exceptional stiffness and lightness. In total, nine FW10 tubs were built; one was sent to Japan for Honda test driver Satoru Nakajima to drive, and one was a prototype to test the construction process.

During the 1985 season, two were written off in accidents: the first when Nigel Mansell went head-on into a barrier at Detroit, the second when he crashed heavily at Paul Ricard due to tyre blowout at over 200 mph (322 km/h), unwittingly setting the record for the highest speed crash in Formula One. The Honda engine proved to be extremely powerful, if not as reliable as the championship-winning TAG-Porsche turbo engine in Alain Prost's McLaren MP4/2B, with Head claiming around 1000–1250 bhp in qualifying, and up to 900 bhp (670 kW) in race configuration.

Racing history

The team had a much better season than in the previous two years, scoring four wins and taking third place in the Constructors' Championship. During the early part of the season the cars made do with upgraded 1984 engines. Honda introduced a completely new RA165E engine at Detroit, which had smaller turbos (with a very small drop-off in power which was recovered thanks to improved engine and turbo technology), and instantly the cars were on the pace, with both Rosberg and Mansell expressing delight in the power of the new engine and how much easier it was to drive being less 'peaky' with a much smoother power delivery. Rosberg won in Detroit, whilst further developments to the engine in the final stages of the season saw the FW10 win the final three races of the season which allowed Williams to snatch third place in the Constructors' Championship on a count-back from Lotus.

Mansell, having joined the team from Lotus at the beginning of the year, won his first Grand Prix in home territory at Brands Hatch for the European Grand Prix, before following it up immediately with another win at Kyalami in South Africa. After winning in Detroit, Rosberg then won his 5th and last Grand Prix at the last race of the season in Adelaide for the first ever World Championship Australian Grand Prix (Williams had previously won the non-championship AGP in 1980 with that year's World Drivers' Champion Alan Jones driving the Cosworth DFV powered Williams FW07B).

The momentum gained from winning the final three races of the season, plus an all-new Honda RA166E V6 turbo, would carry the team into a successful 1986 season.

Despite winning the final three races of the year, the team's early season reliability was still not as good as some of its rivals, and the car proved difficult to drive in wet conditions and at tight circuits with earlier-specification engines, such as at the Portuguese and Monaco Grands Prix.

During qualifying for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Keke Rosberg lapped the 4.719 km (2.932 mi) circuit in his Honda powered FW10 in a time of 1:05.591 for an average speed of 160.9 mph (258.9 km/h), the first time a Formula One car had broken the 160 mph barrier for a qualifying lap. This record would stand until Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya lapped Monza in his V10 BMW powered Williams FW24 at 161.449 mph (259.827 km/h) during qualifying for the 2002 Italian Grand Prix. Rosberg's lap at Silverstone was all the more impressive given that he was on slick qualifying tyres at a time when the track was damp from light rain, and that he also had a deflating tyre for most of the lap.

The 1985 Formula One season saw a number of cars that were fast on specific circuits- i.e. the Lotus that year was the best car on slow, bumpy and tight circuits, the McLaren was the best car in high-speed corners, and the Ferrari and Brabham cars that year were the fastest down the straights (the Pirelli-shod Brabham was particularly good in hot weather, because the Pirelli tyres needed higher temperatures than normal to work properly). The Williams, however, seemed to be the best all-round car, being competitive on almost any type of circuit it competed on. It was fast down the straights, fast on high-speed circuits and fast on slow circuits. After the team got an all-new engine from Honda for Montreal, the car became a lot better on slower circuits, almost on par with the Lotus.

Autocourse subsequently picked the FW10 as third-best car of the year, behind the Lotus 97T and McLaren MP4/2B, and the chassis also won the Autosport magazine's "racing car of the year" award. The FW10 also acted as an important step up to 1986 and 1987 for the team, in which the FW11 with its Honda engines were generally the class of the field.

After years of running predominantly white cars with British Racing Green coloured sign writing, this was the first Williams car to wear the distinctive Yellow-Blue-White livery that regardless of sponsors, would become characteristic of the team until the end of the 1993 season.

• 
  Nigel Mansell driving the FW10 at the 1985 German Grand Prix, a race in which he finished sixth.
• 
  Keke Rosberg also driving the FW10 at the German GP, where he finished in twelfth place.
• 
  Nigel Mansell during practice for the 1985 European Grand Prix, a race which he won.

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap.)

References

Books

• Hamilton, Maurice (ed.) (1985). AUTOCOURSE 1985-86. Hazleton Publishing. ISBN 0-905138-38-4. 

Williams Martini Racing
Founders Sir Frank Williams Sir Patrick Head Team principal Sir Frank Williams Current personnel Claire Williams Pat Symonds Rob Smedley Dickie Stanford Steve Nielsen Former personnel Ross Brawn Mike Coughlan Frank Dernie Gavin Fisher Sam Michael Adrian Newey Neil Oatley Adam Parr Enrique Scalabroni Geoff Willis Toto Wolff 2016 Race drivers 19. Felipe Massa 77. Valtteri Bottas 2016 Test and reserve drivers Paul di Resta (Reserve) Lance Stroll Alex Lynn (Development) Gary Paffett (Simulator) World champions Alan Jones Keke Rosberg Nelson Piquet Nigel Mansell Alain Prost Damon Hill Jacques Villeneuve Former drivers See category Drivers' titles 1980 1982 1987 1992 1993 1996 1997 Constructors' titles 1980 1981 1986 1987 1992 1993 1994 1996 1997 Formula One cars FW06 FW07 FW07B FW07C FW08 FW08C FW09 FW09B FW10 FW10B FW11 FW11B FW12 FW12C FW13 FW13B FW14 FW14B FW15C FW16 FW16B FW17 FW17B FW18 FW19 FW20 FW21 FW22 FW23 FW24 FW25 FW26 FW27 FW28 FW29 FW30 FW31 FW32 FW33 FW34 FW35 FW36 FW37 FW38 Formula Two cars JPH1 JPH1B Le Mans prototypes BMW V12 LM BMW V12 LMR Rally cars Metro 6R4 Touring cars Renault Laguna (BTCC)