Bring Back V10s: The rise of Williams-BMW
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What led to the revival of BMW in Formula 1 with Williams?
The Athletic.
By the time Williams lost its Renault engines at the end of 1997, it already knew what it was going to do next, bringing BMW back to F1 at the start of the new millennium. On track, the partnership got off to a solid start in year one and then became a race-winning force thanks to a monster of an engine that was developed for 2001. But off track, the relationship was never completely harmonious. Upheaval at BMW between the deal being signed and the partnership beginning led to tension from the start. And while everything was heading in the right direction results wise, the dysfunction behind the scenes that would eventually undo this relationship was already apparent. And to help me, Glenn Freeman, revisit the first two years of the Williams BMW partnership in a slightly different episode format for you today, we have Mark Hughes and Ed Straw.
Mark, welcome to the show. You covered the Williams BMW relationship closely during your time in F1. When you think back to the first two years of that relationship, what's the first thing that comes to mind?
What were the initial expectations for the Williams-BMW partnership?
I was actually quite closely involved because the magazine we worked for at the time didn't really pay me enough to be able to afford to cover F1. So I had to do a little bit of work around the side. And one of those was to do some sort of regular updates on how they were doing. And that involved talking to them after every practice session, both the BMW side and the Williams side. So I got to know them quite well. And what I remember was that it was... An exciting partnership and there were moments of real potential you could see, but that it wasn't without its personal tensions. They were there right from the start between the two halves. It was very much a combination of two halves rather than a real partnership.
And it wasn't...
How did the relationship between Williams and BMW evolve in 2000?
There wasn't animosity there, but there was niggle there all the time. There was an underlying niggle there. And I think every time it became a bit more competitive, that niggle sort of subsided for a while. But as soon as there was a little hiccup, then, yeah, it came back. So that was the sort of undercurrent of the team. But it wasn't an unhappy place. It was just a different sort of vibe to, I guess, how it had been previously.
Yeah, maybe not as harmonious as it should have been. That will come up a few times in this episode. Now, Ed, I know that you've been preparing for this episode by watching old F1 season reviews.
What were the major challenges faced by Williams and BMW in their partnership?
So presumably whatever the first thing is that comes to mind for you is wherever you were in one of the season reviews when you had to stop to do this recording.
Well, actually, you're going to make me sound very unimaginative. It's not where I stopped, but it's where I started. But it was the thing that was in mind already because the thing that I always think of when it comes to BMW and the start of it with Williams BMW is actually that first race because... They went to Australia with nobody giving them any chance of finishing because the BMW engines are generally detonated somewhere fairly early in their life. And they'd not done a race distance. They'd done a race distance on the dyno even with the engine. So the fact that Ralph Schumacher managed to get that podium and actually Jenson Button wasn't far off finishing. in Australia as well, was a good old-fashioned bring back V10s.
Oh, they'll never finish.
How did the performance of BMW's P80 engine change the game in 2001?
Oh, they finished and they've got a good result. So that sort of surprise start, because the narrative was very, very much at the time, no chance of making the chequered flag.
It was quite funny during that early phase when the engines were kept detonating. There was a certain sound that it would make apparently from inside the cockpit just before it went. And if you were onto it quickly enough, you could catch it and switch it off or bring it in. And Ralph could identify it and Button couldn't. He just couldn't hear it. He didn't know what Ralph was talking about. So when you looked at the... The retirement rates on the engine side were more heavily in Button's favor because Ralph kept hearing it, catching it.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What led to the revival of BMW in Formula 1 with Williams?
0:02–1:16
2
What were the initial expectations for the Williams-BMW partnership?
1:16–2:08
3
How did the relationship between Williams and BMW evolve in 2000?
2:08–2:49
4
What were the major challenges faced by Williams and BMW in their partnership?
2:49–3:37
5
How did the performance of BMW's P80 engine change the game in 2001?
3:37–4:23
6
What impact did the driver dynamics have on the Williams-BMW team?
4:23–5:08
7
How did Williams' chassis performance compare to BMW's engine capabilities?
5:08–6:28
8
What were the long-term implications of the Williams-BMW partnership's success?
6:28–1:09:45
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from The Race F1 Podcast
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