Williams FW08

My favorite Williams Formula One car, I designed, is the FW08—the car Keke Rosberg used to win the 1982 drivers World Championship. I know he only won the one race with the car, the Swiss Grand Prix at Dijon, but he beat people like Piquet driving a Brabham that had 200 hp more than Keke. It was the time when the turbo engines were about. The FW08 was also the most aerodynamically efficient car I know of. Even today, Formula One cars with all the peripheral technology available, and of course the 100 or so staff needed to design and build such machines, aerodynamically are only half as efficient as the FW08.

Speaking as a designer and engineer, I believe racing always prospers when we are given a free hand to design cars to race without the interference of the governing bodies; historically, I think you will find that correct. Rule changing is a very blunt instrument to use to try and manipulate closer racing, and it fails time after time. If engineers were given a reasonable length of time, closer racing can be achieved. Ever since the politicians and marketing people have tried to exploit racing by messing about with the rules, it has gotten worse and worse.