Sir Frank Williams the longest-serving Team Principal Formula 1 has ever seen has died at the age of 79 on Sunday. Formula 1 world including drivers and teams reacts to the sad news by sending condolences to Williams family.
Nice story about Sir Frank Williams
At a boarding school in Dumfries in the late 1940s and early 1950s, you will have found a young boy totally and utterly obsessed with motor racing. “I used to run around pretending I was a racing car – that sort of nonsense,” said Frank, speaking in a documentary celebrating his F1 achievements on Sky Sports F1. He attempted a racing career himself, but “was always going off the road” so swapped the cockpit for tools and became a mechanic. The next step for him was obvious – he wanted his own team.
Using cash from his work as a grocery salesman, Frank created Frank Williams Racing Cars. After running competitively in Formula 2 and Formula 3, he bought a Brabham chassis, signed his friend Piers Courage and entered F1 in 1969, twice finishing second.
The next season, though, Courage died in a crash in the Dutch Grand Prix. “It was a major loss,” remembered Frank. “I went to the funeral, and I can say of all those present, there were no dry eyes.” Courage’s death hit Frank hard. But he pushed on with his racing team.
Times were tough, or rather money was short. It even got to the point where he was making business calls from a phone box, as his office line had been cut off because of unpaid bills. His wife Ginny would often put her own money into the team, just to keep things ticking over. Eventually, he had to relinquish control, with oil magnate Walter Wolf stepping in. Frank tried to stay on as employee, but it wasn’t for him. So he left. But that wasn’t the end…
F1 for Frank was unfinished business. So he started from scratch again. He needed an engineer, and a chap called Patrick Head was recommended to him. They joined forces as co-founders for Williams Grand Prix Engineering in 1977, basing themselves in an old carpet factory. Little did they know at the time, but this was to be the start of something special. Head’s arrival was, as Frank put it, “significant” as he was “a very clever and hard-working man”.
Their first win came in 1979, aptly at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, with Clay Regazzoni seeing the chequered flag, as Head’s new ground-effect FW07 turned the team into contenders. A year later, they were world champions in the constructors’, with Alan Jones taking the drivers’ title.
It was a remarkable ascent for Frank, who just three years previously was forced to sell up his first F1 operation. The team were on the up and more success followed. They began to assert themselves at the sharp end – but then disaster struck.
Formula 1 teams reacts and pays tribute to the Legendary owner.
Formula 1 drivers reacts to the news
“I think he’s one of those figures that you don’t come across too often, they’re just a very very rare species.” – Sebastian Vettel on Frank Williams.
