How Honda F1 gains gave Williams its first turbo success and a Silverstone record

A union with Honda ensured Williams wasn't left behind by the turbo arms race, but success didn't arrive immediately in 1984. It took the arrival of the following year's FW10 for Williams to become a regular contender again, explains STUART CODLING, and really put Honda’s engine on the map

Published Feb 11, 2024, 1:30 PM

At the turn of the 1980s, few would have argued against Williams being the most technically accomplished team in Formula 1. With the FW07 and its derivative specs, Patrick Head and Frank Dernie had created the ground-effect benchmark, hitting the ideal compromise between maximal underbody aerodynamics and ideal chassis stiffness.

Alan Jones might have won the drivers’ championship in 1979 had the car been definitively ready at the start of that season, and he showed everyone else the way in 1980; the following year team-mate Carlos Reutemann would have been champ but for his inexplicable flunk in the season finale. Tenacity and consistency, and the sad absence of Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi, played a part in Keke Rosberg’s 1982 title but so too did the FW08, one of the best non-turbo cars of that season.