The Williams FW22 was the car with which the Williams team competed in the 2000 Formula One World Championship. The car was driven by German Ralf Schumacher in his second season with the team and British rookie Jenson Button who replaced Alessandro Zanardi in the team who was dropped after just one season with the Grove outfit (and subsequently returned to CART) following a poor 1999 season.
This was the first Formula One car powered by a BMW engine since the Megatron-badged Arrows A10B in 1988.
Design
An evolution of the previous season's FW21,[2] it marked the first year of the team's collaboration with BMW as an engine supplier, a partnership that would last until the end of 2005; this was also the first Formula One car since 1987 to use BMW engines.
Racing history
The FW22 proved to be extremely promising in the hands of young German driver Ralf Schumacher and English debutant Jenson Button. Schumacher achieved eight points finishes (including three third places) and Button six; at the Brazilian Grand Prix, the Englishman became the youngest driver at that time to score a World Championship point, aged 20 years and two months.[3] Schumacher finished fifth in the Drivers' Championship with 24 points while Button finished eighth with 12; the combined 36 points placed Williams third in the Constructors' Championship, behind the dominant Ferrari and McLaren teams.[4]
Sponsorship and livery
Williams had a new livery inspired by the BMW-powered Brabhams of the 1980s. They went into the 2000 season with several renewed sponsors like Nortel Networks, Castrol and Petrobras. The team received new sponsorships such as Allianz, Reuters, Compaq and Intel Inside while Brother, Komatsu and Auto Motor und Sport were discontinued.
As Williams did not have any tobacco sponsorships (Winfield being the last one), Veltins once again returned with the team for the third year. In French, the logo was replaced with "Veltins Alkoholfrei" but it was removed in scale models and video games.
Complete Formula One results
(key) (results in bold indicate pole position)
| Year | Team | Engine | Tyres | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Points | WCC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Williams | BMW E41/4 V10 | B | AUS | BRA | SMR | GBR | ESP | EUR | MON | CAN | FRA | AUT | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | USA | JPN | MAL | 36 | 3rd | |
 Ralf Schumacher
|
3 | 5 | Ret | 4 | 4 | Ret | Ret | 14 | 5 | Ret | 7 | 5 | 3 | 3 | Ret | Ret | Ret | ||||||
 Jenson Button
|
Ret | 6 | Ret | 5 | 17 | 10 | Ret | 11 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 5 | Ret | Ret | 5 | Ret | ||||||
| Sources:[5][6] | |||||||||||||||||||||||
References
- ^ DeMattia, Nico (25 July 2015). "One of the greatest engines in history of Formula 1: BMW V10". BMW BLOG. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ^ "Williams FW22". wi77iams.com. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
- ^ Pye, Marcus (May 2000). "Button Makes History". Motor Sport. Vol. LXXVI, no. 5. p. 617.
- ^ Jones, Bruce (2001). "2000 Final Tables". The Official Grand Prix Guide 2001. London, England: Carlton Books. pp. 120–121. ISBN 1-84222-197-3 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "All championship race entries, in an Williams FW22". ChicaneF1. Retrieved 20 January 2025.
- ^ "Williams FW22". StatsF1. Retrieved 20 January 2025.
