Greatest Racecar? Riccardo Patrese’ Williams FW14

When I think back, I have two racing cars I would call great. First, the Brabham BT49B, and second the Williams FW14—not the “active” car, but the 1991 car. They were by far the best to drive and gave a great feeling coming back to the driver. They were also winners of Grands Prix for me, but most of all a great pleasure to drive. The Williams FW14 gave me two victories, one at Mexico and the other in Portugal. I made a poor start, in Mexico. I think we started three times for some reason and I ended up 4th or 5th behind Nigel (Mansell). I was able to get back into the race, and overtook Jean Alesi and Ayrton Senna. I passed Nigel too, I think he had engine problems, and led the race from there to the finish. Portugal was less eventful, I was on pole and it was a flag-to-flag victory. The FW14 was designed by Adrian Newey and had a V10 Renault engine. Strangely, all these years later, Adrian is still building winning GP cars at Red Bull, with Renault power, too.

I had a great time as a Grand Prix driver and a fantastic time at Williams—it’s good to see they have just celebrated 600 Formula One Grand Prix races. There was always a good atmosphere there, very friendly and very competitive. They have won many races and championships too. In my time, there was a very good communication between the men at the top, Frank and Patrick, which gave me a particular confidence and settled feeling. I’m not too sure if it’s the same now as drivers don’t seem to talk to each other; it is a very competitive atmosphere even with drivers in the same team. It seems no longer to be “us,” now it’s more “me.” The drivers always have somebody by their side talking for them, or listening to what they say to make sure they only say what the team wants them to say—very strange—a totally different era to that when I raced. If I was born into that atmosphere perhaps I wouldn’t see anything wrong, but I really couldn’t see myself in it—I much prefer the way we were.