Despite winning both world titles in the 1996 championship, the end of the season brought significant changes within the Williams team, with the departure of Drivers’ Champion Damon Hill and the contract termination by brilliant designer Adrian Newey. The British engineer, who had joined Williams in 1991 and had designed all the team's cars starting with the FW14, abruptly halted development of the new FW19 in November 1996 after accepting a lucrative offer from Ron Dennis to move to McLaren-Mercedes. The early termination of his contract, which was originally set to expire at the end of 1999, led to a legal dispute between Newey and the British team, led by Patrick Head. From that point onward, Head not only remained Technical Director but also assumed responsibility for the design team, with Geoff Willis as head of aerodynamics and Gavin Fisher as senior designer.
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| WILLIAMS FW19, Jacques Villeneuve Hungaroring, Hungarian GP 1997 |
Both Willis and Fisher had previously worked with Newey for several seasons, and as a result, the FW19 remained heavily influenced by the work of the flamboyant British designer. It can, in many ways, still be considered his creation, even though the project was officially handed over to the engineers led by Head. The FW19 was the last Williams car to be unveiled at the old Didcot facility in Oxfordshire on January 31, 1997, before the team’s historic move to their new headquarters in Grove in 1995. It is seen as an evolution of the successful FW18 from 1996. Despite delays in its development, caused by the change of designer during an already advanced stage of the project and complications in completing the relocation of the wind tunnel from the old facility to the new one, the FW19 was born as a winning car, building upon the solid foundations laid by the successful FW17 and FW18.
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| WILLIAMS FW19, Jacques Villeneuve Buenos Aires, Argentinian GP 1997 |
Aesthetically, the car did not change much, maintaining the hallmark high and narrow nose, tall and boxy sidepods ending in the classic bottleneck shape, and a streamlined engine cover integrated with the cockpit’s lateral protections. However, the engine air intake design did change, becoming slightly higher and no longer obstructed by the driver’s helmet as before. The chassis was further lightened and stiffened, while the suspension system remained torsion bar-based in a push-rod configuration both front and rear. But the most important innovations involved the engine and gearbox. Despite Renault’s announced official withdrawal from Formula 1 at the end of 1997, the new RS9 engine was a completely new unit, markedly different from the previous RS8 and essentially from all Renault V10s seen in F1 since 1988. The V-angle was increased to 71° from the previous 67°, allowing for a 27 mm reduction in engine height compared to the RS8 and lowering the center of gravity by 14 mm. The change also resulted in a weight saving of 11 kg for the engine alone. With the crankshaft positioned lower, Williams engineers were able to lower the transmission and design a more compact transverse gearbox, which in turn enabled a better aerodynamic package at the rear of the car. Additionally, Williams developed a thoroughly revised cooling system to reduce internal airflow resistance within the sidepods. The new engine proved to be reliable and powerful from the start, partly thanks to Williams using it in a provisional FW18B during winter testing. According to Bernard Dudot, the French V10’s designer and an engineer embedded with the Williams team, the power curve was also much smoother, improving throttle response. In its debut race, the engine produced 740 hp at 17,000 rpm, increasing to over 760 hp after developments throughout the season.
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| WILLIAMS FW19, Jacques Villeneuve Silverstone, British GP 1997 |
The FW19 was a winning car, though not particularly reliable, and very fast, albeit difficult to push to the limit, as confirmed by lead driver Jacques Villeneuve and new recruit Heinz-Harald Frentzen. The latter struggled to find the right driving feel with the FW19 in the first 11 races of the championship; aside from a win at Imola (thanks to Villeneuve’s retirement) and a second place at Magny-Cours, he only achieved retirements or unremarkable finishes. Once he got to grips with the car, Frentzen’s difficulties disappeared, and he secured five podium finishes in the last six races. Meanwhile, Villeneuve, son of the late Gilles and already familiar with the challenges of driving Newey-designed cars to the limit, claimed seven wins and the World Championship title. Williams also won the Constructors’ Championship, although the team failed to achieve even a single one-two finish all season.
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| WILLIAMS FW19, Heinz-Harald Frentzen Suzuka, Japanese GP 1997 |
The historic British team thus became the first to win nine Constructors’ Championships, achieving this milestone in just 20 seasons since its debut in 1978 with the FW06. The FW19 marked a turning point for the Grove-based team, being still the last Williams car to win a world title, the last to be unveiled at the old Didcot facility, and the last to use the powerful Renault RS V10 in an official capacity, until the renewed partnership in 2012 with the FW34, which used the 2400 cc Renault RS27 V8, albeit only in customer form.
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