1/43 Model Review: 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve (Williams FW19 Renault)

Background

Following a dominant 1996 season for the Williams team, and the departure of World Champion Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve sailed to his only Drivers' World Championship title, and the Constructors title for 1997. Joined by Heinz Harold Frentzen, he showed signs of promise but more often than not struggled in the car. Villeneuve thrived and took 7 wins that season. The season finale saw Villeneuve battle with Schumacher in the Ferrari for the title, which saw the famous scenes of Villeneuve coming alongside the Ferrari on worn tyres to pass. Schumacher to attempt to crash him out, but failed and was disqualified from the season as a result of his actions. This would also be the last Williams to be designed by Adrian Newey and the last with a works Renault engine (of that era) after this partnership dominated the early-mid 90's.

Minichamps

Minichamps 430970093

I don't usually feature show cars, to be honest, I don't really see the point of them. Very occasionally you would see last year's car with the current livery on in testing, but it was rare, and though they came out months before the new shape, I was happy to wait. So here's the Williams FW18 in the 1997 colours.

Minichamps 430970003

Minichamps 430970003

Anyway, onto the main car and you could get a couple of variations of livery, though it was not advertised as such and come under the same model number. Essentially the early season livery with Hype on the sidepods and the barcodes was based on previous seasons non-tobacco livery, though it never raced. The Snap-On on the bargeboards appeared at the British GP, the team running R.? on the sidepods, the engine-cover and the rear wing, though on this model it only appeared on the sidepod. So really, none of these liveries ever raced.

Minichamps 402969701

The two car World Champions set features an updated FW19 with more or less how it ran at the French GP, though it had ? on the rear wing rather than barcodes.

Minichamps 436970003

The original World Champions Collection came with tobacco sponsorship applied and with the livery from the last race, the European GP, when Villeneuve was crowned champion. At the race, Schumacher was leading but he struggled with tyre wear. Shortly after the pitstops, Villeneuve knew he had an opportunity to pass and made a clean pass up the inside into the hairpin. Schumacher closed the door and bumped into Villeneuves' sidepods, knocking the German into the gravel trap and out of the race. Villeneuve managed to nurse his car to the finish line, allowing both McLarens to overtake, finishing third.

Minichamps 436970003

The model was re-released in the proper British GP livery. I'm not sure why Minichamps decided to release this version, it was never really that popular to begin with, the FW19's being traded very cheaply.

Adrian Newey recently said that the air intake above the driver's head was developed so that the bottom no longer attached to the headrest, as it was causing some issues on the FW18, and that he took inspiration off an inlet from a turbo-prop plane engine when flying. This relatively simple innovation is still seen on cars today. The sculpted winglets in front of the rear wheels, not on the Minichamps model, also sparked a frenzy in other teams rushing to accommodate it on their cars for the 1998 season.

The model itself I quite liked, and though it's still in diecast, I think it's still pretty reasonable.
Score: 7/10

Onyx

Onyx X311

With the success of the Michael Schumacher, I'm guessing, drivers started having their own collections and signing exclusive deals. Interestingly, Villeneuve had his own picture on the cardboard inlay of the Minichamps, but is simply known as 'Canadian Driver' on the Onyx model. Frentzen however appeared in Onyx Collection, but only had a dark blue helmet known as 'German Driver' on the Minichamps car.

Onyx had fallen well behind Minichamps in terms of model quality by this time and though their small collection of 1997 cars were an improvement on their previous offerings, these would be the last Onyx F1 cars we see produced. The rollover bar is a bit high and the rear wing too low, and the nose a little bulky, but the rest of the car is fairly reasonably proportioned.

My only venture into 1/18 scale cars with with the Onyx version of this car, and I was quite impressed by it, so it was a shame that the 1/43 version didn't quite have the same proportions.
Score: 5/10

Ixo/Formula 1 Car Collection

The Ixo car has been released in various promotions, the latest being as part of the Formula 1 Car Collection series. The nose doesn't really resemble the real thing, being too high and not particularly well sculpted. The airbox extends too far forward, but it does have the sculpted winglets on the sidepods. I'm not sure why the decals aren't straight above the bargeboards. So it's not a particularly great offering from Ixo in my opinion.
Score: 5/10

RBA

The RBA car is another budget version available on the market, but I prefer the Ixo and the Onyx versions. The general shape is kind of all there, and the proportions are kind of OK. If you squint, you would recognise it, but it's not particularly well defined or detailed.
Score: 4/10

BBR

The first thing that jumps out to me is how far out the rear the rear wing is. I don't think the nose is particularly good, the front wing endplate lacks any definition, the rollover bar air intake is too big, and the sidepods seem generally a bit too low. So, as you can tell, I'm not particularly impressed by this BBR car, considering I've seen some excellent models made by them before.

Score: 7/10

Tameo

Tameo TMK240

Tameo TMK251

Tameo's excellent models comes in early and late season versions, from the Brazilian and European GP. The car is either too squat or it's a bit too long, either way it seems a little out of proportion. Other than that, it's another lovely model and the best model of this car in this scale.
Score: 8/10

I did like the Spanish and Monaco GP cars where they ran inverted colours on the rear wing, with a dark blue rear wing with white text, it's a shame there aren't any models with that particular livery.