The Williams FW09 was a

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

car designed by Frank Dernie and Neil Oatley. It was the first Williams chassis to be powered by a

turbocharged In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (also known as a turbo or a turbosupercharger) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake air, forcing more air into the ...

Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...

V6 engine A V6 engine is a six- cylinder piston engine where the cylinders and cylinder blocks share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V6 engines were designed and produced independently by Marmon Motor Car Company, ...

, for which Frank Williams negotiated a deal towards the end of 1982 and the beginning of 1983. Honda was already supplying the small Spirit team for 1983, but was enthusiastic about supplying Williams, who not only had the reigning

World Champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

Keke Rosberg Keijo Erik "Keke" Rosberg (; born 6 December 1948) is a Finnish former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Rosberg won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Williams, and won five Grand ...

as lead driver, but were one of the leading constructors in Formula One who had previously won both the Drivers' and Constructors titles on two occasions, a résumé that neither Spirit nor their young Swedish driver

Stefan Johansson Stefan Nils Edwin Johansson (born 8 September 1956) is a Swedish former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One between and . In endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing, Johansson won the 24 Hours of Le Mans ...

could match. Williams had agreed to help develop the engine under Grand Prix race conditions. Spirit folded shortly afterwards.

Overview

1983

The chassis was built from

aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

with

carbon fibre Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers ( Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon comp ...

used at stress points and was based on the reasonably successful 1983 Williams FW08C. The engine cover had to be redesigned as the car was powered by a smaller, but more powerful () V6 engine rather than the

Cosworth Cosworth is a British automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in high-performance internal combustion engines, powertrain, and electronics for auto racing, automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream Automotiv ...

V8 that powered the FW08C. The front of the car was also redesigned giving the car cleaner

aerodynamics Aerodynamics () is the study of the motion of atmosphere of Earth, air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dynamics and its subfield of gas dynamics, and is an ...

. The FW09 was introduced at the

South African Grand Prix The South African Grand Prix was first run as a Grand Prix motor racing handicap race in 1934 at the Prince George Circuit at East London, South Africa, East London, Cape Province. It drew top drivers from Europe including Bernd Rosemeyer, Ri ...

, the last race of the 1983 season, which was nothing more than a shakedown exercise. Rosberg showed the potential of both car and engine by qualifying sixth and finishing in fifth place while teammate

Jacques Laffite Jacques-Henri Laffite (; born 21 November 1943) is a French former racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from to . Laffite won six Formula One Grands Prix across 13 seasons. Born and raised in Paris, Laffite trained as ...

started 10th (after failing to qualify the old car at the previous

European Grand Prix The European Grand Prix (also known as the Grand Prix of Europe) was a Formula One event that was introduced during the mid-1980s and was held every year from to , except in . During these years, the European Grand Prix was held in a countr ...

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hosts ...

), but spun off under braking for Crowthorne Corner at the end of the long main straight on lap two, his car ending up in the tyre barrier and out of the race.

1984

The car was then raced in the season by Rosberg and teammate Laffite. Both drivers found extra power of the engine to their liking, but not the chassis which suffered from the sudden bursts of power that the Honda gave, upsetting the balance of the car- and the engine power delivery was so abrupt that parts of the 1.5L Honda block were actually found to have twisted during the race. Furthermore, the car body was found to produce a lot of drag at high speeds. The problems with the 1984 chassis were noted by broadcaster

Clive James Clive James (born Vivian Leopold James; 7 October 1939 – 24 November 2019) was an Australian critic, journalist, broadcaster, writer and lyricist who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1962 until his death in 2019.FOCA's season review video that "Rosberg had managed to make the Williams look driveable, which everyone including Frank Williams knew it really wasn't". Reliability was also a problem, with Laffite only recording five finishes during the whole season, but the basic speed was there with the Honda powered FW09 consistently among the fastest cars through the speeds traps on many tracks despite the car itself producing high drag. Indeed, both drivers recorded a top speed of in qualifying and the race at the 1984 South African Grand Prix (although it wasn't as fast as the

Brabham Motor Racing Developments Ltd., commonly known as Brabham ( ), was a British race car, racing car manufacturer and Formula One racing team. It was founded in 1960 by the Australian driver Jack Brabham and the British-Australian designer Ron Ta ...

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

s which recorded in qualifying). Rosberg had a more successful year than Laffite, managing to tame the car's unpredictable handling by winning the attrition-filled Dallas Grand Prix for his and the team's first win since the 1983 Monaco Grand Prix, and giving Honda its first Formula One Grand Prix win since

John Surtees John Norman Surtees (11 February 1934 – 10 March 2017) was a British racing driver and motorcycle road racer, who competed in Grand Prix motorcycle racing from to , and Formula One from to . Surtees was a seven-time Grand Prix motorcycl ...

won the 1967 Italian Grand Prix at

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

and its first win with a turbo engine. A modified version of the car dubbed the FW09B was introduced in Round 10 of the season at

for the 1984 British Grand Prix. The car featured 'coke bottle' type sidepods pioneered by McLaren. Unfortunately from that race until the end of the season both Rosberg and Laffite only recorded one finish each and neither was in the points. Rosberg was 8th at the

Dutch Grand Prix The Dutch Grand Prix () is an annual Formula One World Championship auto racing event, held at Circuit Zandvoort, North Holland, the Netherlands, from 1950 through 1985, and after a 35 year hiatus, from 2021 to 2026. It has been a part of the ...

while Laffite ended the season in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

with a disappointing 14th place, following which the FW09 was retired. One particular incident that was more or less a summation of Williams's season was at the

Austrian Grand Prix The Austrian Grand Prix () is a Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile sanctioned motor racing event that was held in , –, and –. It returned to the Formula One calendar in , where it has remained since then. It was first held at ...

at the

Österreichring The Red Bull Ring is a motorsport race track in Spielberg, Styria, Austria. The race circuit was founded as Österreichring (translation: Austrian Circuit) and hosted the Austrian Grand Prix for 18 consecutive years, from to . It was later s ...

– which was at the time the fastest circuit used by Formula One with average lap speeds as high as 150+ mph – Rosberg drove into the pits from 9th place and informed technical director Patrick Head that he was retiring the car from the race because it was dangerously unstable at the Österreichring's very fast sweepers and he feared he might have a massive accident – all too commonplace at such a fast circuit. The Finnish driver, who had amazing reflexes and had a flat-out driving style was not one to just quit out of fear, and Head, a hard-nosed character with little patience for losing, accepted Rosberg's decision wholeheartedly. Williams, which along with

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...

and

were one of the few race winners in a season dominated by

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited ( ) is a British auto racing, motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. The team is a subsidiary of the McLaren Group, which owns a majority of the team. McLaren is best known a ...

drivers

Niki Lauda Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda (22 February 1949 – 20 May 2019) was an Austrian racing driver, motorsport executive and aviation entrepreneur, who competed in Formula One from to and from to . Lauda won three Formula One World Drivers' Champ ...

and

Alain Prost Alain Marie Pascal Prost (; born 24 February 1955) is a French former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "the Professor", Prost won four Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles and� ...

, finished sixth in the constructors' championship in 1984 having scored 25.5 points. The FW09 was retired following the 1984 season. It was replaced in by the all carbon fibre and more successful Williams FW10.

Complete Formula One results

( key)

References

;Books * {{commons category 1983 Formula One season cars 1984 Formula One season cars Williams Formula One cars