Almost 12 years have pasted since the last F1 car on slick tyres , the championship winner Williams FW19 , designed by Newey . The car achieved 123 points , 11 pole positions , 9 fastest laps , 8 wins and both the constructor and driver’s championships . The RB5 may not be as successful as the FW19 ( until now ) but its potential and speed is beyond doubt .It would not make much sense a direct comparison between the two cars if the regulations would not have changed but due to 2009 aero cutting such a comparison can lead to some useful conclusions about the evolution rate in Formula 1.
The main and most striking differences between the RB5 and the FW19 due to the different F1 regulations are
- The wider front wing
- The taller and lesser in width rear wing
- The standard V8 frozen engine , which offers a slimmer rear zone and smaller cooling radiators
The nose in RB5 was chosen by Adrian Newey to be high and slim , in order to disturb in a lesser way the airflow to the front wing . A similar approach was chosen by Newey for the FW19 .Still looking at the front zone it is amazing to observe the overall volume of the nose cone , in FW19 it was much much larger able to accommodate the braking and suspension system while the RB5 has a more slimmer and elegant nose cone as the internal systems were radically decreased in size . Furthermore the RB5 has a distinctive raised u-shaped bodywork at the front of the chassis while the FW19 had only small pimples which housed the front suspension’s elements .
There is nothing to compare about the steering wheels . Only 12 years time passed between the two cars but for steering wheels it seems to be a century !
The sidepods in RB5 are far more sculpted on their bottoms and much slimmer towards the rear.
The RB5 also has a pull rod rear suspension system in contrast to FW19’s push rod rear suspension system .Moreover the RB5 has a low periscope exhaust pipe system but the FW19's exhausts pipes were placed between the rear suspension's wishbones .