The eight best F1 cars of the 1990s

Williams FW14B

What can you say about the Williams FW14B that hasn’t already been said? Nothing. So we won’t attempt to. The FW14B was the first really dominant car of the 1990s, and signalled the intent with which Williams would attack the rest of the decade. It was also the true announcement that Renault engines would become a force to be reckoned with for the rest of the ‘90s.

Designed by Adrian Newey the 14B was a development of the rapid, but problematic, FW14. When the 14 had launched Williams knew straight away that it was going to be very, very fast, but it also featured the team’s first attempt at semi-automatic transmission – a system first pioneered by Ferrari at the end of the previous decade, and which had arguably cost Nigel Mansell any chance of a F1 title while wearing red. The 14B ironed out all those problems and, complete with its very trick active suspension system, dominated the 1992 championship, winning Nigel Mansell a title at last – at the age of 41. While the following FW15 was arguably the most advanced F1 car technologically of the decade, the 14B laid the foundations for Williams’s success in the 1990s and is the more iconic of the two.

McLaren MP4-13

The car that holds the Goodwood Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard Timed Shootout record in the hands of Nick Heidfeld also won a couple of other, less important, pots in the 1990s. Designed by that man Newey again – who had been poached from Williams as a result of a lack of control, a story that would follow when he left McLaren for Red Bull – this was his first proper ground-up design for the team. And in case anyone was unsure if the man from Stratford-upon-Avon was set to become a legendary designer, the MP4-13 duly waltzed away from the field at the first race in Australia to such a state that McLaren were able to orchestrate who won the race based on the position at the first corner – they finished a lap ahead of the field.

It was slowed ever so slightly when its clever second brake pedal – a device designed to aid turn-in by braking the inner wheel more than the outer – was banned, but Mika Häkkinen went on to win eight races and his first title (team-mate David Coulthard followed up with a single win at San Marino and eight podium finishes), although through sheer consistency Michael Schumacher was able to take the title down to the very last race. McLaren also clinched its first Constructors Crown since 1991.

Ferrari 641

The McLaren MP4/5B won the championship in 1990, but it was, to all intents and purposes, a car from the 1980s updated for a new season. The Ferrari 641, although based heavily on the 640, takes a place in this list because it won as many races as the MP4/5B and could easily have won the title had a certain incident at Suzuka not happened – you can love Ayrton Senna all you like, but he took Alain Prost out...

The Ferrari 641 also had a screaming 3.5-litre Ferrari V12 and looked the absolute nuts on track, with a very smooth design uninhibited by any of the upcoming aerodynamic additions that would proliferate over the next two decades. The 640 had been a very fast car, but was plagued by issues with its brand new semi-automatic gearbox. While it had won three races, it also retired 19 times in a single season, with Gerhard Berger only actually finishing three times. But Nigel Mansell, signed from Williams after becoming frustrated with the British team’s downturn, had finished no lower than third when he did make the end. Bolstered by signing Prost 1990 seemed to be the season for Ferrari to regain its place at the top of the standings. The Ferrari was probably slightly faster than the McLaren on race day, and had the edge at high-speed circuits – showcased by Mansell’s legendary round-the-outside pass on Berger in Mexico, but after that crash at Suzuka Senna and McLaren would still take the title.

McLaren MP4-6

The McLaren MP4-5 and 6 may not have been as successful in terms of pure wins as the predecessor MP4-4, but they sure as anything looked better. While the MP4-5 doesn’t make this list because it straddled the decade change, the following MP4-6 was a fully-‘90s machine.

Whereas most teams were moving gradually toward V10s as the power unit of choice, Honda chose 1991 to be the year it went up two cylinders. Ditching the ultra-successful V10 that had powered the cars before, the MP4-6 had a 60-degree V12 and a sturdy six-speed manual ‘box.

It would be that manual transmission that was the key to the MP4/6’s success. While the totally-new Williams FW14 struggled to find any consistency or reliability with its new semi-automatic gearbox. The more simplistic McLaren took Ayrton Senna to four wins on the bounce at the start of the season and seven in total (Gerhard Berger added an eighth in Japan) and while the FW14 would solve its problems and begin to dominate the second half of the season, Senna and McLaren held firm to clinch the final championships of the McLaren-Honda partnership.

Make sure you read GRR’s list of the nine best F1 cars of all time.

Williams FW18

The Williams FW14, 15, 17 and 19 were all the class of the field. The FW16 would probably have been the fastest car of its season had it not come up against a rather dodgy competitor, but it was the only break in a series of superstar cars from the combination of Williams and Adrian Newey. But in 1995 the FW17 had struggled to showcase what it could do, mostly because drivers Damon Hill and David Coulthard were, to put it kindly, having an off season (they retired 15 times between them).

In 1996 all that had to change as far as Frank Williams and Patrick Head were concerned. They signed CART champion and Indy 500 winner Jacques Villeneuve to partner Hill and had begun to discuss a replacement for the Brit long before a wheel was turned that season. The FW18 was again the class of the field and, with Schumacher heading to Ferrari to try to help turn the Italian giant around, there really seemed to be little chance of anyone challenging the team from Grove. And so it turned out, Hill would win eight races that season, Villeneuve four and Williams won both titles. The main strength of the FW18 came from its predecessors. It built on a consistent design process from Adrian Newey to become not only fast but, vitally, incredibly easy to drive. It was also the final car to win the Constructors’ Championship for Williams. The team would win the Drivers’ title in 1997, but by then Hill had been let go, Newey had quit for McLaren, Renault was preparing to take its dominant V10 away and Schumacher, Ross Brawn and Jean Todt had begun to turn Ferrari around.

A die-hard Williams fan? Read: Williams’ four greatest seasons in F1.

Jordan 199

The Jordan 199 only won two races, it only finished on the podium six times and it didn’t even have an engine from a factory development podium. But, discounting Brawn’s Honda-funded development success in 2009, it was the last truly independent car to really challenge for a championship crown in F1.

The 1999 season was a year of contrasts for Jordan. While it was Damon Hill’s worst season ever, so low that he even wanted to quit the sport after the British Grand Prix mid-season, it was an annus mirabilis for team-mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen. A promising youngster who challenged Michael Schumacher, Frentzen had struggled in two difficult years at Williams after replacing Hill. He joined Jordan for 1999, was handed the 199 to play with and duly took it to two wins and six podium finishes. That was enough to leave Frentzen in with a real chance of winning the championship in the final two rounds.

Jordan’s unexpected success came off the back of a successful two seasons since moving to Mugen-Honda engines and gaining the iconic Benson and Hedges sponsorship. Designer Gary Andreson had penned the previous two cars, which brought Jordan up the field and then its first victory in 1998. For 1999 Mike Gascoyne took over as Technical Director and penned the 199, a development of the 198 with improved aerodynamic capabilities. In the end it was Jordan’s most successful season ever, and one that it would seem could have been even better, had Frentzen had a team-mate more able to keep pace with him.

Benetton B194

The Benetton B194 is a controversial car, it had a lot of, to put it kindly, trick technology on it, but underneath it was still an incredibly fast car. The first championship-winning car from Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne and Pat Symonds was hindered by the fact that it was powered by a sluggish and extremely heavy Ford V8, an engine based on the design that replaced the DFV in 1989. Yes, it had a trick refueler that could also be called illegal and yes it may well have had traction control, but the B194 was truly the class of the field, showcased by the fact that Schumacher won the championship despite being personally banned from two races and disqualified from two more. A rotating set of team-mates next to Schumacher failed to really step up to support the German, meaning the Constructors’ crown went to Williams, but Schumacher won six of the first seven races and never finished lower than third when he reached the end of a Grand Prix.

Controversy at the final race of the season cannot detract from how good a car the 194 was, the following B195 might have won more races, but it was blessed with the class-leading Renault V10 engine, and was heavily criticised by Schumacher as being difficult to drive. The Williams FW17 was the better car, but Hill and Coulthard’s issues meant Schumacher walked to a second title. The B194 on the other hand was the class of the field, even after the FIA had completed its investigations into the, how shall we put it, more underhand technology on the car.

A 1990s motorsport fan? Read: The history of F1: the 1990s.

Ferrari F399

Ferrari began the decade challenging for the title and ended it finally winning its first Constructors’ Championship since 1983. The Ferrari 399, the car to take that long-awaited title, was actually a development of a design from way back in 1996. The, quite-frankly rubbish, Ferrari 310 of ’96 had been taken over by Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne when they moved to Ferrari from Benetton, turning it into the 310B, which was so radically better than the 310 that Schumacher nearly took his third title. In 1998 the F300 was a development of the 310B, again pushing the championship fight to the very last round. The F399 would attempt to go one better with a series of reasonably minor changes. However, the challenge was stymied only seven races in, when Schumacher’s 399 failed to take Stowe, leaving the German with a broken leg and Ferrari without a lead driver. The fact that Ferrari would go on to win the title, despite having only Eddie Irvine (who had only won one race that season before Schumacher’s injury) and Mika Salo at its wheel shows how good a car it was. While Irvine failed to win the title, Schumacher returned to show just fast the 399 was, dominating the Malaysian Grand Prix before handing victory to his team-mate to help him in the championship.

The following season’s F1-2000 was a direct descendent of the F399, and would be the first Ferrari to win a Drivers’ title for over 20 years.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.