It was driven by German Ralf Schumacher, who had swapped from Jordan with compatriot Heinz-Harald Frentzen, and Italian Alessandro Zanardi, who had last raced in Formula One in 1994 but had since won the CART championship twice.

The team eventually finished fifth in the Constructors' Championship, with 35 points, all scored by Schumacher and thus Williams ended up with their worst season since 1990.

This was the second and final year for Williams had a sponsorship deal with a cigarette brand Winfield as the team's main sponsor.

The car's livery was primarily red and white, as in 1998, but incorporated blue and yellow elements to reflect the colour scheme of the cartoon character Woody Woodpecker.

An emblem depicting him was featured on the nose cone as part of a sponsorship with Universal Studios.