Williams-BMW, second year. This could be the title of the 2001 season for the English team from Grove in Oxfordshire. The collaboration between the Williams team and the Bavarian engine manufacturer continues, with BMW strongly determined to return to the top of Formula 1 after the successes achieved in the 1980s with the M12/13 L4T inline-four turbo engine, mounted on the Brabham BT52 that won the World Championship with Nelson Piquet. BMW engineers Paul Rosche and Werner Laurenz are still part of the Williams team, Rosche as Head Engine Designer and Laurenz as Technical Director for the Engine, actively working with the engineering staff led, as always, by Technical Director Patrick Head.
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| WILLIAMS FW23, Ralf Schumacher Indianapolis, USA GP 2001 |
The design of the new Williams FW23 is once again entrusted to the Englishman Gavin Fisher, who has been with Williams since 1988 and was a protégé of Adrian Newey during his time at Grove. As in recent years, Brian O’Roake and Mark Tatham retain their positions as Chief Composite Engineer and Chief Mechanic respectively. For the increasingly important aerodynamics department, Geoff Willis, also a former Newey protégé, having worked with him at Williams until 1997, remains Head of Aerodynamics, supported by Jason Sommerville and Nick Alcock. Building on the experience gained in the previous season with the partnership between the British team and the German engine supplier, the new FW23 is noticeably better than its predecessor, the FW22, and proves to be fast and competitive from the very first tests, thanks especially to the new BMW P81 engine. Rosche and Laurenz chose to abandon the previous E41/4 V10 with a 72° bank angle, powerful but heavy, in favor of designing a brand-new 90° V10, significantly smaller and lighter, but above all much more powerful. The new German V10 can produce 880 hp at 19,000 rpm, a full 70 more than the previous E41/4, making it by far the most powerful engine on the grid.
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| WILLIAMS FW23, Ralf Schumacher Melbourne, Australian GP 2001 |
The new Williams-BMW was unveiled on February 27 at a Silverstone event, where the new driver, Colombian Juan-Pablo Montoya, was also presented, joining the confirmed German driver Ralf Schumacher. Montoya was a very promising young talent, having won the Formula 3000 Championship in 1998, then moving to America where he won the IndyCar Series at his first attempt, also claiming victory at the Indianapolis 500. Regarding the FW23, Williams engineers focused on properly implementing the regulation changes, tackling the challenges of new aerodynamic limitations and stricter structural crash tests.
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| WILLIAMS FW23, Ralf Schumacher Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian GP 2001 |
The FW23 is an evolution of the FW22, redesigned and improved to house the new engine and gearbox, still a Williams-developed seven-speed sequential unit, but reinforced to handle the BMW’s power. The rear of the car underwent major changes, adopting a slimmer, cleaner profile, with much more pronounced sidepod tapering, creating a strong “coke-bottle” effect. A simpler rear wing was fitted, although modified repeatedly during the season, while the bargeboards and flow deflectors ahead of the rear wheels evolved considerably, with more intricate shapes resulting from continuous wind tunnel work. As previously mentioned, the most important change was the new BMW engine, smaller and lighter than its predecessor, which allowed the design of a new chassis, improved weight distribution, and better internal airflow within the sidepods thanks to smaller exhaust manifolds and radiators. The suspension was completely redesigned to work optimally with the new Michelin tires. Indeed, from this season, the French tire manufacturer returned to Formula 1 after a 16-year absence, ending Bridgestone’s monopoly, which had begun in 1999 with Goodyear’s withdrawal.
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| WILLIAMS FW23, Juan-Pablo Montoya Catalunya-Barcelona, Spanish GP 2001 |
The FW23 was undoubtedly a good car, particularly a benchmark at high-speed tracks, as shown by its 0.6s advantage in qualifying at the fast Hockenheim circuit and 0.3s at Monza, but it paid the price on high-downforce tracks, where shortcomings in the new chassis made it slower than Ferrari and McLaren-Mercedes. Still, the season was positive for the Grove team: four victories, three for Schumacher and one for Montoya, brought the English squad back to the top ranks of Formula 1 after years of struggle. Montoya’s performances, initially hampered by the adaptation to F1 cars after racing in slower, heavier American single-seaters, improved as the season progressed. After a tough start with eight retirements in the first ten races, he finally achieved his first win at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. Ralf Schumacher was far more consistent, already familiar with the FW22 and able to deliver strong performances immediately with the FW23, also benefiting from Michelin tires that were often superior to Bridgestones in high temperatures. The German scored 49 points, which, combined with Montoya’s 31, gave Williams-BMW third place in the Constructors’ Championship, just 22 points behind McLaren-Mercedes.
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