The Williams FW15C of 1993 was one of the most dominant Formula 1 cars of all time, at least in terms of pure one-lap pace. Between them, Alain Prost and Damon Hill secured pole position for 15 of the 16 races, losing out only at the finale in Australia. And yet somehow ‘only’ 10 were converted into race wins.
The man who made life so difficult on Sundays and who also took that stray pole in Adelaide was Ayrton Senna. The Brazilian conjured up five race victories for McLaren on days when either something went awry for Williams or his sheer brilliance allowed him to outperform a rival car that should have been quicker. In addition Michael Schumacher, building up the momentum with Benetton that would see him win the title in 1994, also managed to steal a victory from the clutches of Williams.
The FW15C remains perhaps the most sophisticated F1 car ever seen in terms of the tools available to its drivers. They included active ride, traction control, automatic shifting, ABS, power-assisted brakes and power steering, and a drag-based push-to-pass option. Meanwhile CVT – constantly variable transmission – was being tested for 1994.
The car was supposed to have raced in 1992, but that year Nigel Mansell proved to be so fast with the interim FW14B that the new model was held back. “We weren’t expecting the performance dominance that 14B showed,”
