The FW20’s development was significantly impacted by two key changes ahead of the 1998 season: the departure of Chief Designer Adrian Newey to McLaren, and the loss of Renault as an engine supplier. Newey’s designs had been instrumental in Williams’ success throughout the early and mid-1990s, directly contributing to the championship-winning FW19 up until the end of 1996. With Newey gone and Renault withdrawing from Formula One, Williams faced the challenge of maintaining competitiveness with a new design team and a Mecachrome-badged Renault engine – essentially the previous year’s unit. Patrick Head and Geoff Willis acknowledged the FW20 was a conservative design, but expressed hope for a competitive season. Cosmetically, the FW20 closely resembled the FW19, following the same basic design concept but adapted to meet the 1998 regulations.
The Williams FW20 utilized a Mecachrome engine, which was based on the Renault engine used in the previous season. The car was equipped with Goodyear tyres, as the team remained with their existing tyre supplier despite the introduction of grooved tyres for the 1998 season. The design was described as conservative, reflecting the team’s circumstances following the departure of key personnel and the change in engine supply. The chassis itself was a new design, marking the first time since 1990 that Williams had competed with a car not directly overseen by Adrian Newey.
Williams began testing the FW20 in January 1998, incorporating parts from both the new car and the previous year’s FW19. At the opening round in Melbourne, Heinz-Harald Frentzen achieved a podium finish, securing third place, although he finished a lap behind the leading McLaren drivers. This proved to be one of the few highlights of the season for the FW20. Jacques Villeneuve struggled to defend his drivers’ title, and the team as a whole was unable to challenge for the constructors’ championship. Villeneuve achieved third-place finishes at the German and Hungarian Grands Prix, ultimately finishing fifth in the Drivers' Championship with 21 points.
Frentzen’s season was also marked by inconsistency. After his podium in Australia, he only scored points in six further races, with a best result of fourth place at the Belgian Grand Prix. He experienced five consecutive retirements, including collisions with Eddie Irvine at Loews hairpin in Monaco and with Michael Schumacher in Canada. The 1998 season marked Williams’ first winless year since 1988, and they finished third in the Constructors’ Championship, well behind McLaren and Ferrari. At the end of the season, both Villeneuve and Frentzen moved to other teams – Villeneuve joining British American Racing and Frentzen moving to Jordan Grand Prix.
Following the season, the FW20 was used for testing purposes by Ralf Schumacher and Alex Zanardi, with Schumacher setting the fastest times at Barcelona. Further testing was conducted with Juan Pablo Montoya, Tommi Mäkinen, and Mick Doohan. During practice for the Belgian Grand Prix, Villeneuve lost control of his car in the Eau Rouge corner and crashed at approximately 170 mph (270 km/h), but was unhurt.
The FW20 featured a significant change in livery compared to previous Williams cars. The traditional white and blue colour scheme was replaced with an all-red design, accented with white and gold. This change was driven by main sponsor Rothmans, who used the space previously occupied by their branding to promote their sister brand, Winfield. Consequently, the car displayed ‘Winfield’ logos for most races, with exceptions made at the French, British, and German Grands Prix, where the logos were replaced with a Winfield kangaroo emblem and text. In Canada, the kangaroo emblem was replaced with a yellow barcode and text "Winfield Racing Williams F1 Racing Team". The Veltins logo was removed entirely during the French Grand Prix, due to restrictions on tobacco and alcohol advertising. Universal Studios and the Woody Woodpecker logo also appeared on the nose cone at select Grands Prix, including promotion of the film Blues Brothers 2000 at the Australian Grand Prix.
In December 1999, an FW20 chassis was modified with a dark blue and white livery and fitted with a BMW V10 engine, running on Bridgestone tyres. The car was then test driven by Jörg Müller.
Gallery · 1 related image
