Williams FW15C - Electronics

Electronics

By 1993, Formula One had become very much a high-tech arena and the FW15C was at the very forefront, featuring active suspension, anti-lock brakes, traction control, telemetry, fly-by-wire controls, pneumatic valve springs, power steering, semi-automatic transmission, a fully automatic transmission and also continuously variable transmission, although the latter was only used in testing. As a result Alain Prost described the car as "a little Airbus".

While anti-lock brakes and traction control made driving the car on the limit easier, added complication arose from occasions when the computer systems wrongly interpreted the information they were receiving from their sensors, the active suspension being particularly prone to this from time to time.
With so many computer systems on board the car required three laptop computers to be connected to it every time it was fired up: one each for the engine, the telemetry and the suspension.

The FW15C also featured a push to pass system (left yellow button on steering wheel), which would use the active suspension to raise the car up at the rear, and eliminate the drag from the diffuser, effectively increasing speed through a lack of downforce. Williams was able to use the electronics, so they could sync up a flawless link that would simultaneously set the engine for another 300 revs, and raise the active suspension for when the driver needed extra speed while overtaking.

This system could be seen being used by Hill and Prost numerous times in 1993 while attempting passing manoeuvres.

So great was the level of technology on the cars that FIA decided to ban several of what they considered to be "driver aids" with immediate effect following the British Grand Prix, leading to the so-called "Weikershof Protocol", by which the ban was postponed to the start of 1994.