Williams will be showcasing the FW14B at the 2025 Festival of Speed

When it comes to this year’s Festival of Speed theme, ‘The Winning Formula: Champions and Challengers’, there are few cars that encapsulate that more than the Williams FW14B. Still to this day considered one of the most technologically advanced cars to ever race in F1, it obliterated the opposition with a cocktail of performance enhancing innovations including active suspension, traction control and a semi-automatic transmission. Such was the car’s dominance in 1992, many of those features were banned for subsequent seasons.

Mansell will return to the cockpit of the car that he drove to Championship glory at the 1992 Hungarian Grand Prix. He also drove this particular chassis to victories at Silverstone, Hockenheim and Estoril. In all, he drove the FW14B to a then-record nine Grand Prix victories on his way to the World Championship. He will reignite memories of that remarkable season for himself and everyone in attendance at the Festival of Speed.

He’ll be sharing driving duties of the FW14B with Vowles, Block and Chadwick, who has made a brilliant start to her season in the European Le Mans Series with two race wins in Barcelona and Paul Ricard, making her the first woman to claim outright victories in the series.

Vowles, who has led Williams from the back of the grid to the sharp end of the midfield, said: “It’s fantastic news that Jamie, Lia and I will all be driving the FW14B up the Hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this year.

“When you walk around the museum at our base in Grove, the 14B is the car that stands out. This is a dream come true; an iconic car, with such a huge list of success. The 14B had technology that was way ahead of its time, and it’s so well known for not only what it achieved but how it took the team forward.

“Taking it to Goodwood and having the honour of driving it is going to be incredible.” 

Speaking ahead of the event, Chadwick said: “One of my earliest memories is from the Festival of Speed; I didn’t start in the sport until later and I went when I was about ten and that was my first time being exposed to so many cars and F1.

“It’s also the place I drove my first F1 car so it’s very special. The FW14B is the most iconic car that we have in our collection at Williams. With the active suspension and everything that this car stood for in its time, it’s simply legendary. The sound of it is unbelievable so I’ll be getting my earplugs ready.”

Block returns to the Festival of Speed after getting her first experience behind the wheel of an F1 car in 2024. The F1 Academy racer is still at the beginning of her single-seater racing career, but she gained some valuable experience when she drove the FW08 up the Hill. She returns to Goodwood to drive one of the greatest F1 cars of all time.

“I started going to Goodwood when I was really young with my dad who used to do the hillclimb a lot. Last year was a very big moment for me being able to drive an F1 car up the hill. It was a dream come true, and Goodwood is so special to me because so many people from different areas of motorsport come together to celebrate the sport.

"This year is going to be an iconic experience for me in an iconic car – I can’t wait!”

The 2025 Festival of Speed takes place on 10^th-13^th July. Friday and Saturday tickets are now sold out, but Thursday and limited Sunday tickets are still available.

Main image courtesy of Williams Racing.

Goodwood photography by Nick Dungan, Jamie Bufton, Jayson Fong, Lou Johnson and Toby Adamson.