Williams FW21
The Williams FW21 was the car with which the Williams [Grand Prix Engineering|Williams] team competed in the 1999 [Formula One World Championship]. It was driven by German Ralf Schumacher, who had swapped from Jordan with compatriot Heinz-Harald Frentzen, and Italian Alessandro Zanardi, who had last raced in Formula One in but had since won the Championship [Auto Racing Teams|CART] championship twice.
Design
Engine
This was also the team's last season using a Renault engine until one was fitted in the race winning FW34 in 2012; with a new works deal with BMW for the 2000 season.Season summary
Schumacher had a successful season and was a consistent front-runner with the all-new design of the FW21, scoring points in eleven of the sixteen Grands Prix. The German took three podium finishes across the year, with third place finishes at the Australian Grand Prix|Australian] and British Grand Prix|British Grand Prix] and a season best second place in Italy. Schumacher also came very close to taking victory at the Nürburgring in the European Grand Prix before a late puncture scuppered his hopes and relegated the German to finishing fourth. Schumacher would go on to finish sixth in the 1999 Formula [One World Championship|1999 Drivers' Championship] with 35 points.Zanardi struggled all season with the handling characteristics of the then-recently introduced grooved tyres and failed to score a point. He was dropped at the end of the year in favour of Formula Three driver Jenson Button.
The team resided in fourth place in the Constructors Championship for much of the year, unable to challenge McLaren and Ferrari and being generally outpaced by Jordan. The team eventually fell behind Stewart and finished fifth in the Constructors' Championship with 35 points, all scored by Schumacher and thus Williams ended up with their worst season since 1990.
Livery
This was the second and final year for Williams had a sponsorship deal with a cigarette brand Winfield as the team's main sponsor. Williams used 'Winfield' logos, except at the French Grand Prix|French] and British Grands Prix, where it was replaced with "WilliamsF1". In Canada, the kangaroo emblem was replaced with a boomerang-styled emblem. In French, Veltins logo was replaced with "Veltins alkoholfrei" but it was covered up by a barcode for scale models and video games.The car's livery was primarily red and white, as in 1998, but incorporated blue and yellow elements to reflect the colour scheme of the cartoon character Woody Woodpecker. An emblem depicting him was featured on the nose cone as part of a sponsorship with Universal Studios.
FW21B
A "B" spec car was used for testing the BMW V10 engine for their return in 2000 season. Later, the car were run on Michelin tyres, testing them in preparation for their return in the 2001 season.Complete Formula One results
| Year | Team | Engine | Tyres | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Points | WCC |
| 1999 | Williams | Supertec FB01 V10 | AUS | BRA | 1999 [San Marino Grand Prix|SMR] | MON | ESP | CAN | FRA | GBR | AUT | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | EUR | 1999 [Malaysian Grand Prix|MAL] | JPN | 35 | 5th | ||
| 1999 | Williams | Supertec FB01 V10 | Alessandro Zanardi | Ret | Ret | 11† | 8 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 11 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 8 | 7 | Ret | 10 | Ret | 35 | 5th | |
| 1999 | Williams | Supertec FB01 V10 | Ralf Schumacher | 3 | 4 | Ret | Ret | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | Ret | 4 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 4 | Ret | 5 | 35 | 5th |
Notes:
- – Driver did not finish the Grand Prix but was classified, as he completed more than 90% of the race distance.