FW14B

THE EARLY TO MID-1990s WAS A PURPLE PATCH for Williams Grand Prix Engineering, and the FW14B remains one of the most successful F1 cars of all time. A revision of the Adrian Newey-designed FW14 that dominated the mid-to-latter stages of the 1991 season, the FW14B of 1992 was a technical marvel. Power came from a 3.5-litre Renault V10 – rumoured to make as much as 30bhp more than rival engines – while Nigel Mansell made best use of the newly introduced active suspension to take nine wins and secure the championship with six races remaining. The suspension allowed the car to run at the perfect height for both straights and corners, and Mansell and the FW14B just clicked: in his home race at Silverstone, the Brit’s pole position time was a full 1.9sec ahead of teammate Patrese’s best, and he in turn was nearly eight tenths ahead of Ayrton Senna’s McLaren.

Above: Against all odds, Pastor Maldonado was a winner in F1. Below: Mansell’s credentials, meanwhile, were rarely, if ever, in any doubt