Williams FW28


The Williams FW28 was the car with which the Williams team competed in the Formula One season. The drivers were Mark Webber and rookie Nico Rosberg, the reigning GP2 Series champion. Webber was in his second year with the team, and teammate Nico Rosberg carried a hint of nostalgia, as Nico's father Keke had won the F1 championship in a Cosworth-engined Williams.
However, 2006 was very disappointing for the team. The car was dogged by a handling problem which affected the cars on the entry to corners. Despite the effectiveness of the Cosworth engine, the Bridgestone tyres and the two drivers, the FW28 could only display brief flashes of promise. Too often this promise was compromised by poor reliability - an embarrassment for a team which prided itself on engineering excellence.
The car seemed competitive at the beginning of the year, when the cars scored a double points finish with Rosberg setting the fastest lap of the race on his F1 début at the Bahrain Grand Prix. An excellent second-row qualifying performance at Sepang was wasted when both cars suffered engine failures, and the season went downhill from there. Exceptions were Australia and Monaco, both races where Webber looked a contender for at least a podium finish until retiring on both occasions with hydraulics failure and an exhaust fire respectively.
A note of significance for Webber and Williams came on lap 21 of the 2006 Australian Grand Prix. By leading the lap Webber became the first Australian to have led his home grand prix since the last non-championship AGP was held in 1984.
Williams finished eighth in the Constructors' Championship - the team's lowest finish since its inaugural season in.

Livery

Williams went into the 2006 season with renewed major sponsorships such as Allianz, RBS, FedEx, Reuters, ORIS, Hamleys, Budweiser, Petrobras and Castrol. Williams received new sponsorship such as Mobilecast, Tata Group and discontinued sponsorships are Hewlett & Packard.

Gallery

Complete Formula One results

YearTeamEngineTyresDrivers123456789101112131415161718PointsWCC
WilliamsCosworth V8BHRMALAUSSMREURESPMONGBRCANUSAFRAGERHUNTURITACHNJPNBRA118th
WilliamsCosworth V8Mark Webber6RetRet6Ret9RetRet12RetRetRetRet10108RetRet118th
WilliamsCosworth V8Nico Rosberg7RetRet11711Ret9Ret914RetRetRetRet1110Ret118th