Thirty years on, the car that defined Williams’ last dominant era is heading back up the hill at Goodwood. Atlassian Williams F1 Team has confirmed its driver lineup for the 2026 Goodwood Festival of Speed, with Damon Hill, James Vowles, Luke Browning and Jamie Chadwick all set to take on the hillclimb in the championship-winning FW18. The appearance marks three decades since Hill secured the 1996 FIA Formula One World Drivers’ Championship, with the car returning to the track following an extensive restoration by Williams F1 Team – Heritage.
Key Points: Williams FW18 Goodwood Festival of Speed 2026
- Damon Hill reunites with the FW18 that won him the 1996 World Championship
- Hill will be honoured on the Goodwood House balcony on Saturday 11 July
- James Vowles returns to the hillclimb after driving Mansell’s FW14B in 2025
- Luke Browning makes his Goodwood debut as Williams Reserve Driver
- Jamie Chadwick returns having driven the FW08 in 2023 and FW14B in 2025
- The FW18 won 12 of 16 races in the 1996 season
- Car restored to period-correct specification by Williams F1 Team – Heritage
The FW18 Returns
Twelve wins from sixteen. That is the FW18.
Shared between Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve, it delivered Williams their eighth World Constructors’ Championship and set a benchmark the team has been chasing ever since. It has been out of sight for years. Now, restored to period-correct specification by Williams F1 Team – Heritage, it returns in the one place where that history still lands properly.
Hill will be honoured on the balcony of Goodwood House on Saturday 11 July as part of the official 30th anniversary celebrations. The title itself was sealed at the Japanese Grand Prix in 1996. A defining moment, not just for Hill, but for what Williams represented at that point in Formula 1.
The Drivers
James Vowles returns to the hillclimb having driven Mansell’s FW14B in 2025. This time it is the FW18. Different car, different weight behind it. As Team Principal, this is the reference point. The car every comparison still comes back to.
Reserve Driver Luke Browning makes his Goodwood debut. He arrives off the back of a strong run through junior categories and a measured step into Super Formula. This is his first proper moment in a Williams car that actually carries history with it.
Jamie Chadwick returns for her third Festival of Speed appearance with Williams, having driven the FW08 in 2023 and the FW14B in 2025. Since her last Goodwood run, she has taken an outright win in the European Le Mans Series in LMP2. That progression shows. She is not here to make up numbers.
What They Said
“I am delighted and very excited to be reunited with my championship-winning FW18 and Williams who made it all possible at this summer’s Festival of Speed. To see the car return to Goodwood 30 years later, and to share that moment with the fans, is truly amazing.”
Damon Hill, Brand Ambassador, Atlassian Williams F1 Team
“Goodwood is an incredibly special event that showcases the best of British motorsport. To see Damon reunited with the FW18 as we mark 30 years since his World Drivers’ Championship is hugely meaningful for the team and for motorsport fans. Moments like these bring together our past, present and future.”
James Vowles, Team Principal, Atlassian Williams F1 Team
Coffee Corner Take
The FW18 is not a car Williams bring out lightly. Twelve wins from sixteen. A dominant season. The kind that resets expectations.
Bringing it back, restored, with Hill driving it again, is the easy headline. The real story sits around it.
Vowles driving it is not a PR gesture. He is the person accountable for closing that gap. Browning is the next generation they are building around. Chadwick has an ELMS race win since she was last here. None of them are filling a seat.
Williams are rebuilding. That gap to the FW18 era is still there. Not hidden. Not closed.
But this is how you remind people what the team is supposed to look like.
Williams Racing
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