not a V8 like the race cars used. For the season the Renault V10 engine was used. This was the first Renault powered Williams F1 car and also saw Renault's re-entry into Formula One after stopping the supply of their turbocharged engines following the season. The Renault engine was designed under the direction of longtime Renault Sport engineer Bernard Dudot; the design and development of Renault’s V10 started at least a year before Honda began developing their V10 engine largely due to Renault’s short-lived withdrawal from F1 as an engine supplier at the end of the 1986 season. The updated and revised FW12C showed its potential in the season opening Brazilian Grand Prix with Patrese qualifying 2nd and leading the race from the start in what was his 176th Grand Prix start, which was then a record. Patrese also set the fastest lap of the race before retiring in front of the pits with a broken harmonic balancer. During this time the car scored its only win when Thierry Boutsen (who had replaced Mansell in the team) scored his first win at the rain affected Canadian Grand Prix, and with Patrese finishing second it was Williams's first 1–2 result since the 1987 Mexican Grand Prix. Patrese, who had his best season to date after consecutive 2nd-place finishes in Mexico, Phoenix and Canada, followed by a 3rd in France, also scored the car's only pole position at the Hungarian Grand Prix. He then comfortably led the race until lap 54 when a hole in the radiator caused the car to overheat into retirement. By the time of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, it had become obvious that the limit of the FW12C had been reached, with the team starting to fall behind both McLaren, with their Honda V10 engine, and Ferrari with their V12, while also being consistently challenged by Benetton and the Cosworth built Ford V8 of which they had exclusive use. Williams, who had decided to continue with the car, preferring to get its successor, the FW13, right before making its race debut, decided after Italy, where Boutsen finished 3rd with Patrese 4th, that the FW12C would be retired and the new car introduced for Portugal. The main reason for the late appearance of the FW13 was that it had originally been designed for Williams' active suspension system and it had to be re-designed and tested with normal