The Williams FW13 was a Formula One racing car used by the Williams team for the last four races of the 1989 Formula One season and, when updated as the FW13B, for the whole of the 1990 season.[1]
Description of vehicle[]
The FW13 was designed by Argentine Enrique Scalabroni and featured a distinctive oval-shaped air intake, as well as the Renault RS1 3.5-litre V10 engine, Renault's first non-turbo Formula One engine which was rated at approximately 650 bhp (485 kW; 659 PS). The car was driven by Belgian Thierry Boutsen and Italian Riccardo Patrese. It made its racing début late in the 1989 season - at the Portuguese Grand Prix - due to the team's wish to get any bugs out in testing beforehand which forced the team to use an updated version of their 1988 car dubbed the Williams FW12C for the first 12 races of the season, by which time the FW12C had reached its development peak and both Patrese and Boutsen were eagerly awaiting the FW13. Both the drivers and the team agreed the new car was needed to challenge the likes of McLaren with their V10 Honda engines, Ferrari with their V12 engine and innovative Semi-automatic transmission, and the leading V8 powered cars, the Benetton-Ford Cosworths.
After teething problems saw the Williams pair out of contention in Portugal, Patrese reverted to the old car in Spain while Boutsen continued with the new car. With the bugs finally ironed out, the new car proved very competitive in the final two races of the year, as Patrese and Boutsen finished second and third respectively at Suzuka (though helped by the infamous McLaren collision at the chicane which took out Alain Prost and later saw Ayrton Senna disqualified). The Belgian then won the final race of the year in Australia after a brilliant drive in very wet conditions, with Patrese third. These results enabled Williams to leapfrog Ferrari into second in the Constructors' Championship while Patrese had his best ever year by finishing third in the Driver' Championship behind the McLarens.[2]
BBC television commentator Murray Walker reported during the Australian GP that the FW13, like its predecessor, was originally designed to use the computer-controlled active suspension rather than the conventional suspension used on most cars at the time. However, after the problems encountered in the first half of 1988 with the FW12, Williams decided more work was needed on getting the active suspension to work better with the naturally aspirated engines of the time and converted the new car to passive suspension. Walker reported that this was the reason the FW13 had so late in making its race debut as the team worked hard in testing to get the handling of the car right before putting it into competition.[3]
Race Victories[]
Year | Event | Driver | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1989 | Australian Grand Prix | Thierry Boutsen |
Complete Formula One Results[]
Year | Driver | Tyre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1989 | ||||||||||||||||||
Boutsen | G | Competed by Williams FW12C | Ret | Ret | 3rd | 1st | ||||||||||||
Patrese | Ret | 5th | 2nd | 3rd | ||||||||||||||
1990 | ||||||||||||||||||
Boutsen | G | 3rd | 5th | Ret | 4th | Ret | 5th | Ret | 2nd | 6th | 1stP | Ret | Ret | Ret | 4th | 5th | 5th | |
Patrese | 15th | 13th | 1st | Ret | Ret | 9th | 6th | Ret | 5th | 4th | Ret | 5th | 7th | 5th | 4th | 6th |
Key | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Symbol | Meaning | Symbol | Meaning | ||
1st | Winner | Ret | Retired | ||
2nd | Podium finish | DSQ | Disqualified | ||
3rd | DNQ | Did not qualify | |||
5th | Points finish | DNPQ | Did not pre-qualify | ||
14th | Non-points finish | TD | Test driver | ||
Italics | Fastest Lap | DNS | Did not start | ||
18th† | Classified finish (retired with >90% race distance) | NC | Non-classified finish (<90% race distance) | ||
4thP | Qualified for pole position | [+] More Symbols |
Reference[]
- ↑ Hayhoe, David; Collings, David (2006). Grand Prix Data Book. Haynes. pp. 318–334. ISBN 1-84425-223-X.
- ↑ "Williams FW13". 14 June 2018. https://www.wi77iams.com/williams-fw13/. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
- ↑ "1989 Australian GP Part 4". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70AFM3Xx6Vo. Retrieved 6 December 2019.Template:Cbignore
v·d·e | Nominate this page for Featured Article |
V T E | |||
Drivers 2. Logan Sargeant · 23. Alexander Albon · 43. Franco Colapinto | |||
Personnel Frank Williams · Patrick Head · Pat Symonds · Mike Coughlan | |||
World Champions Alan Jones (1980) · Keke Rosberg (1982) · Nelson Piquet (1987) · Nigel Mansell (1992) · Alain Prost (1993) · Damon Hill (1996) · Jacques Villeneuve (1997) | |||
Cars March 761 · FW06 · FW07 · FW07B · FW07C · FW07D · 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 · FW40 · FW41 · FW42 · FW43 · FW43B · FW44 · FW45 · FW46 | |||