Williams FW25

The Williams FW25 is a Formula One car designed by Williams and powered by a BMW V10 engine. The car was used by Williams for the 2003 championship. Three drivers would drive the FW25 in the 2003 season, with Marc Gené replacing regular racer Ralf Schumacher for the Italian Grand Prix after the German suffered a large testing accident at Monza's Lesmo 1 corner prior to that race. The other regular driver Juan Pablo Montoya started all of the season's Grand Prix.

As of 2024, it remains the last Williams car to score a 1–2 finish.

The design of the 2003 Williams FW25 was a marked departure over its predecessor, and was a completely new design compared to the Williams FW24, something that Williams had not done between 2001 and 2002.^[3] New to the 2003 design team was ex-Ferrari aerodynamicist, Antonia Terzi, who worked with existing designer Gavin Fisher after the departure of ex-chief aerodynamicist, Geoff Willis.^[4]

Although the FW25 could have easily won on its debut during the Australian Grand Prix but for a costly late race spin from the lead by Colombian driver Juan Pablo Montoya, the car did not establish itself amongst the frontrunners on the grid until the Austrian Grand Prix where again Montoya led before retiring with engine failure. Until that race, both drivers complained about understeer due to flaws in the car's design and were restricted to minor points placings.

A new, wider front tyre introduced by Michelin at the Monaco Grand Prix unlocked the potential of the FW25, with Montoya winning in Monte Carlo before the team scored a double-podium at the Canadian Grand Prix, then went on to score dominant 1–2 victories at the European Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, and the next race, the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours, with Ralf Schumacher leading home Montoya on both occasions.^[5]

This mid-season resurgence in form ignited both the team's and Montoya's own title challenge, with the Columbian extending his podium streak with a second place at the British Grand Prix, winning the German Grand Prix by over a minute from pole position and taking third place at the Hungarian Grand Prix, leaving him just one point behind title rival Michael Schumacher at the top of the Drivers' Championship standings. Meanwhile, after outscoring Ferrari in Hungary, the team led the Constructors' Championship by eight points with only three rounds remaining.

Subsequently, a change to Michelin's front tyre width (resulting from a protest lodged by their rivals Bridgestone through the Ferrari team after their poor performance at the Hungarian Grand Prix) caused controversy through the paddock, with Williams tipped to lose their competitive edge after that race due to a slimmer tyre design being raced at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza being seemingly at odds with the wider tyre that Williams brought with great effect to the Monaco Grand Prix. Despite Montoya taking his eighth consecutive podium with second place at Monza, being able to stay with eventual World Champion Michael Schumacher's Ferrari throughout the whole race, the FW25 would not win again in the final three races of the season, with the Italian, United States, and Japanese GP taking place after the tyre redesign.

Montoya's title hopes were eventually extinguished after the penultimate race in the United States at Indianapolis, although Williams still entered the final round in Japan with a chance at taking their tenth Constructors' title. This initially looked promising as Montoya led the final race at Suzuka before retiring with a hydraulics problem.^[6] Montoya would later cite the FW25 as a favourite of his, praising the balance and the driveability with the powerful BMW engine which suited his aggressive driving style.^[7]

The livery of the FW25 remained similar to its two predecessors with blue and white remaining as the primary colours and silver used as an accent colour while most of the previous seasons sponsors were retained. New sponsors for 2003 included Hewlett-Packard, who bought Compaq the year before and brewery brand Budweiser. At the German Grand Prix, the "Budweiser" logo was simplified as "Bud" due to the licensing issues from its parent company, Anheuser-Busch. At the French Grand Prix, the Budweiser logo was completely removed.

On 18 June 2018, it was announced by Codemasters that this car would appear as a classic car in F1 2018.

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position, results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Media related to Williams FW25 at Wikimedia Commons