Overview

The Williams FW16 is a Formula One vehicle that was operated by the Rothmans Williams Renault team in the 1994 Formula One World Championship. It is mostly remembered as the last F1 car Ayrton Senna drove until his fatal accident at Imola on 1 May 1994.

Early Season troubles

For the first round at Interlagos in Brazil, Senna put the car on pole while teammate Damon Hill was down in fourth on the grid. At the start, Senna got cleanly away while his main rival Michael Schumacher was held up by Jean Alesi. Eventually Schumacher got past Alesi and overtook Senna during the first pitstops. After another second stop (for fuel), Senna was able to close to within 5 seconds but spun-off on lap 57, thus failing to score points. Hill finished a lap down in second from Schumacher.

The second round at the TI Circuit in Aida, Japan would see Senna get pole once again, but not without him and Hill spinning during Qualifying several times. It later emerged that the FW16's front wing was positioned too low, leading to the car spinning if it ran over a bump on-track. Senna would then be punted off at the first corner by Mika Häkkinen before being T-boned by Nicola Larini's Ferrari.

San Marino and Monaco

Going into the third round at Imola, Senna was 20 points behind Schumacher and under pressure to start challenging the German for the title. For this race, the FW16 had been modified with new slightly higher front wing to try and alleviate the instability seen earlier in the season.

With the fatal accident of Roland Ratzenberger from the previous day on in the back of their minds, the grid assembled for the race on 1 May 1994. After JJ Lehto stalled his Benetton and was hit by Pedro Lamy, the safety car was brought out for 5 laps before the race resumed. Leading the race on lap 7, Senna's FW16 went off at Tamburello and the hit the wall at 211 km/h (131 mph).

He was killed when the suspension from his Williams punctured his helmet. Despite the crash, the race was resumed. Hill attempted to overtake Schumacher but damaged his car in the process forcing him to pit. He finished in 6th.

Mid-Season upgrades

Starting with the Spanish Grand Prix, the FW16 received new upgrades to improve its safety and stability. By the German Grand Prix, the FW16B was introduced and was used by the team for the rest of season. Although Damon Hill lost the Drivers Championship to Michael Schumacher, Williams-Renault was still able to win the Constructors Championship.

Drivers

• Damon Hill - Car No.0
• Ayrton Senna (Rd1 ~ Rd3) - Car No.2
• David Coulthard (Rd5 ~ Rd6,Rd8 ~ Rd13) - Car No.2
• Nigel Mansell (Rd7,Rd14 ~ Rd16) - Car No.2