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 Nico Rosberg driving the FW28 at the2006 Canadian Grand Prix | |||||||||
| Category | Formula One | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Constructor | Williams | ||||||||
| Designers | Sam Michael(Technical Director) Jörg Zander(Chief Designer) Clive Cooper(Head of Design - Composites and Structures) Matt Morris(Head of Design - Transmission) Mark Loasby(Head of Design - Systems) Loïc Bigois(Chief Aerodynamicist) Alex Hitzinger(Engine Chief Designer - Cosworth) | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Williams FW27 | ||||||||
| Successor | Williams FW29 | ||||||||
| Technical specifications[citation needed] | |||||||||
| Chassis | Carbon-fibre and honeycomb composite structure | ||||||||
| Suspension (front) | Williams carbon-fibre double wishbone arrangement, with composite toe-link and pushrod-activated torsion springs | ||||||||
| Suspension (rear) | Williams carbon-fibre double wishbone arrangement, with composite toe-link and pushrod-activated torsion springs | ||||||||
| Engine | Cosworth CA2006 andToyota RVX-06 (post-season testing only) 2.4-litreV8 (90°)naturally aspirated | ||||||||
| Transmission | Williams 7-speed seamless-shiftsequential semi-automatic | ||||||||
| Power | 755 hp @ 19,250 rpm (314.7 hp/L)[1] | ||||||||
| Fuel | Petrobras | ||||||||
| Lubricants | Castrol | ||||||||
| Tyres | Bridgestone | ||||||||
| Competition history | |||||||||
| Notable entrants | Williams F1 Team | ||||||||
| Notable drivers | 9. Mark Webber10.  Nico Rosberg | ||||||||
| Debut | 2006 Bahrain Grand Prix | ||||||||
| Last event | 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Constructors' Championships | 0 | ||||||||
| Drivers' Championships | 0 | ||||||||
TheWilliams FW28 was the car with which theWilliams team competed in the2006Formula One season. The drivers wereMark Webber and rookieNico Rosberg, the reigningGP2 Series champion. Webber was in his second year with the team, and teammate Nico Rosberg carried a hint of nostalgia, as Nico's fatherKeke had won the1982 F1 championship in a Cosworth-engined Williams.
This was the first V8-powered Williams car since theFW12 in 1988 and also the first Williams car ran on Bridgestone tyres since theFW22 in 2000.
2006 was very disappointing for the team. The car was dogged by a handling problem which affected the cars on the entry to corners. Despite the effectiveness of the Cosworth engine, theBridgestone tyres and the two drivers, the FW28 could only display brief flashes of promise. Too often this promise was compromised by poor reliability - an embarrassment for a team that prided itself on engineering excellence.
The car seemed competitive at the beginning of the year when the cars scored a double points finish with Rosberg setting thefastest lap of the race on his F1 début at theBahrain Grand Prix. An excellent second-row qualifying performance atSepang was wasted when both cars suffered engine failures, and the season went downhill from there. Exceptions wereAustralia andMonaco, both races where Webber looked a contender for at least a podium finish until retiring on both occasions with hydraulics failure and an exhaust fire respectively.
A note of significance for Webber and Williams came on lap 21 of the2006 Australian Grand Prix. By leading the lap Webber became the first Australian to have led his home grand prix since the last non-championship AGP was held in1984.
Williams finished eighth in the Constructors' Championship - the team's lowest finish since its inaugural season in1978. Unhappy by the team's reliability problems, Webber departed the team at the end of the season to joinRed Bull Racing.
Williams went into the 2006 season with renewed major sponsorships such asAllianz,RBS,FedEx,Reuters,Oris,Hamleys,Budweiser,Petrobras andCastrol. The team received new sponsorships such as Mobilecast andTata Group whileHewlett-Packard was discontinued. While it retained the dark blue on white scheme, the stylized "kidney grille" was gone from the nose with the loss of BMW as engine supplier.
The Williams FW28B is an interim version of the FW28 the team used to prepare for the 2007 season. After an obviously disappointing 2006, Williams decided to opt for Toyota engines for 2007 and therefore built the FW28B. The car is similar to the FW28 in all aspects except for being powered by Toyota's 2006 engine, the RVX-06.
During winter practice, the team also experimented with new front wings and other aerodynamic parts which helped the development of their new car FW29 car.[2]
(key) (results initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Engine | Tyres | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Points | WCC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Williams | CosworthV8 | B | BHR | MAL | AUS | SMR | EUR | ESP | MON | GBR | CAN | USA | FRA | GER | HUN | TUR | ITA | CHN | JPN | BRA | 11 | 8th | |
| Mark Webber | 6 | Ret | Ret | 6 | Ret | 9 | Ret | Ret | 12 | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 10 | 10 | 8 | Ret | Ret | ||||||
| Nico Rosberg | 7 | Ret | Ret | 11 | 7 | 11 | Ret | 9 | Ret | 9 | 14 | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 11 | 10 | Ret |
Media related toWilliams FW28 at Wikimedia Commons
