Williams FW16

Information

The Williams FW16 at first races of the season was competitive, but also operating window was too narrow to extract his best performance. During the San Marino Grand Prix, held on May 1st 1994, Williams introduced the first upgrades to the car, which included a revised nose profile with the wings positioned slightly higher, new aerodynamic end plates which were slightly taller, a revised wheelbase and a re-shaped cockpit surround. Into the new modifications brought by Williams included changes to the steering column, which included an extension to accommodate to Senna's preferences. This also brought consequences, as the extension was not a new bar, but it was a welded extension. On lap 7, Senna was leading the race, when the welding failed and broke. Senna was sent into the wall at 309 km/h, hitting it at 211 km/h, the car hit the wall at a shallow angle, tearing off the right front wheel and nose cone before spinning to a halt. The suspension hitted Senna's helmet, which left him injured and passed away at hospital. After the crash, the chassis was kept in Bologna by the Italian authorities until 2002. In 2002 the car was shipped to Sir Frank Williams home where he destroyed every part of the shell, then it was taken back to Williams to destroy the chassis and the remaining pieces.