Adrian Newey builds his legend is one way to describe the 1990s in a single sentence. Another way could be: Williams and McLaren take the majority of constructors' pie, while Benetton and Ferrari steal one piece each.
Newey, Williams, and McLaren are mentioned for a reason. The top 10 fastest qualifying cars of the decade, in a nutshell, is all about them.
The Method
The order of this list is based on the average advantage, expressed in symmetrical percentages, the fastest car of each season had over its closest competitor in qualifying. In the 1990s, every driver had 12 laps at his disposal in a one-hour session. Only the best times counted in deciding the order. Up to 1995, qualifying was held over Friday and Saturday, but in 1996 the FIA limited it to only one day.
Wet sessions are excluded. For the purposes of this list, a session is considered wet if drivers used wet tires during it. This approach makes Belgium 1994, Argentina 1995, Austria 1998, and France 1999 not eligible.
10. Williams FW16 (1994), -0.005%
0.005% converts to 0.006 seconds on a 1:25 lap. In qualifying, there was not much between that year’s constructors’ champion and its rival, the Benetton B194. Both cars took 6 poles each. Truth be told, the gap would’ve been in favor of the latter if Michael Schumacher hadn’t served a two-race ban and missed races in Estoril and Monza. On the contrary, it could’ve been even bigger in Williams favor if Ayrton Senna hadn’t died at Imola. We can only measure what happened, not what could’ve been, and that’s why, by a tiny margin, the FW16 gets the spot.
9. Williams FW17 (1995), -0.181%
The 1995 Williams is the only car on this list to not win either of the championships, even though it started from pole 12 times (out of 17 grand prix). For that, a lion share of the blame is put on its drivers. For sure, Damon Hill and David Coulthard didn’t perform up to the task, but the team should’ve also hit their chests and admitted they’d messed up on more than one occasion. The latter is a story for another time, but let me just say this: up to the French Grand Prix, Hill performed very well, and it was mostly due to the gremlins and shortcomings of the team; he didn’t lead in the standings.
8. McLaren MP4/6 (1991), -0.268%
Senna’s last championship car is also the last one with a manual transmission to win an F1 title. It is one of only two cars on this list not designed by Adrian Newey. McLaren started the year very strong but eventually fell slightly behind their rival, Williams, as the season progressed. Nevertheless, the MP4/6 secured 10 poles (out of 16). Having the fastest driver over a single lap in F1 at the time undoubtedly contributed to it. In contrast, Senna’s championship rival, Nigel Mansell, faltered and was outqualified by his teammate, Riccardo Patrese.
7. McLaren MP4/14 (1999), -0.532%
For sure, the 1999 McLaren didn’t have the advantage over the rest its predecessor had enjoyed one year earlier. Still, it was good enough for 11 poles (out of 16), all taken by Mika Hakkinen. That’s mostly thanks to the loose brake jolt in Schumacher’s car that led to his crash at Silverstone, which eliminated the Ferrari driver from 6 races, a cynic could say. Still before the accident, Hakkinen won qualifying 6 times, while his rival only once.
6. Williams FW18 (1996), -0.620%
If we use the simplest definition of a dominant car: its drivers finished 1-2 in the standings, than the 1996 Williams was one. Hill finally took the championship and his rookie teammate Jacques Villeneuve had to settle for second place. The pair was dominant both on Saturdays and Sundays, winning as many poles as races: 12 (out of 16).
5. McLaren MP4/13 (1998), -0.637%
1998, the year of the Silver Arrow and the Flying Finn. The Mp4/13 dominated the qualifying sessions from Australia to Belgium, being briefly interrupted by the Benetton of Giancarlo Fisichella in the chaotic, wet session in Austria. Hakkinen and Coulthard took 12 pole positions (out of 16). Only in the last three grand prix, McLaren’s championship rival Ferrari was able to finish on top on Saturday.
4. Williams FW19 (1997), -0.642%
12 appears to be a particularly popular number on this list. That’s how many poles the last Williams to win an F1 title achieved in 1997, courtesy of the champion Villeneuve and his teammate Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Only on five occasions its rivals, the Ferrari and the Benetton were able to beat them.
3. McLaren MP4/5B (1990), -0.677%
You probably guess how many poles (out of 16 Senna and Gerhard Berger secured in the first year of the decade. That's correct: a dozen. The Brazilian world champion of 1990 started from P1 10 times, which was 3 fewer than his then-record of 13, achieved and repeated in the two previous seasons. Mansell claimed 3 poles in a Ferrari, while Thierry Boutsen took the only one for Williams. (P.S. This is the other car, not designed by Newey.)
2. Williams FW14B (1992), -1.513%
We have seen some good and great cars on this list. Now, it’s time for royalty. Mansell took 14 poles by some truly obscene margins and set the record ultimately surpassed by Sebastian Vettel in 2011 (15 out of 19). The 1992 champion graciously left some scraps for others: his teammate, Patrese, got one pole, so did Senna. When considering both qualifying and race performances, the Williams FW14B stands out as the car of the 1990s. However, on this list, it must acknowledge the superiority of its successor.
1. Williams FW15C (1993), -1.780%
The FW15C had all the features that had made its predecessor all conquering: active suspension, traction control, and Newey’s aerodynamics; plus ABS brakes, a more powerful engine, and a new driver lineup consisting of Alain Prost and Hill. The car secured 15 pole positions, with Prost achieving 13 of them, losing only once to McLaren in Australia, again thanks to Senna. While the FW15C matched the number of poles and wins of its predecessor, Prost and Hill didn’t finish 1-2 in the standings. Nevertheless, it claims the top spot on this list by 0.267% (0.227 seconds on a 1:25 lap).