Sir Francis 'Frank' Williams CBE (born 16 April 1942) is founder and manager of the Williams F1 Formula 1 racing team. The Williams team has won 9 Constructors' championships, from 1980 to 1997, second only to Ferrari. Seven drivers have won the drivers' title with Williams, only Ferrari and McLaren drivers have won more. Sir Frank's team is in the mold of the 'old' privateer teams, he with his partner Patrick Head, is in control. Sir Frank is widely respected in F1, not just for his success but for his integrity.


 

Williams was born in the North of England and privately educated in Scotland, it is said he was hooked on racing from the age of eight after a family friend took him for a ride in a Jaguar XK 150. He began racing in 1961 in an Austin, sublimating income as grocery salesman. He struggled to fund his racing activities and worked as a racing mechanic. In 1966 he decided to stop racing and concentrate on building a business selling old cars and spare parts and establish Frank Williams Racing Cars. In 1967, Williams made his debut as team owner in F2 and F3 races.

In 1969 Williams purchased a Brabham Formula 1 chassis which Piers Courage drove throughout the 1969 Formula 1 season, twice finishing in second place.

In 1970 Williams undertook a brief partnership with Alessandro de Tomaso. After the death of Piers Courage at the Dutch GP that year, Williams' relationship with de Tomaso ended. In 1971 he raced Henri Pescarolo with a chassis he had purchased from March Engineering. 1972 saw the first F1 car built by the Williams works, the Politoys FX3 designed by Len Bailey, but Pescarolo crashed and destroyed it at its first race.

Williams, was very short of money (he conducted team business from a telephone box at one point after being disconnected for unpaid bills), looked to Marlboro and Iso Rivolta, an Italian car company, for sponsorship. Though they pledged their support, they did not come through in time and in 1976 Williams desperately took on a partner, oil magnate Walter Wolf. Though the team continued functioning, it no longer belonged to Frank Williams, so he left in 1977 along with one of his old employees, engineer Patrick Head.
 
Frank Williams and Partrick Head formed Williams Grand Prix Engineering. This same team and partnership still competes in Formula 1 and is known as WilliamsF1.
 
An old March F1 car was acquired and driven by Patrick Neve while plans were made for the team to build its own cars.  Williams was able to get backing from Saudia Airlines in 1978 and Head's Williams FW06 was raced by Alan Jones. The team expanded to two cars in 1979 and Head built the new FW07. In July the team's second driver Clay Regazzoni won the team's first GP victory at Silverstone. Jones then won a string of victories and in 1980 took the World Championship title.

Keke Rosberg driving for Williams won the 1982 World Championship despite winning only one race and in 1983 the team began a new relationship with Honda which would lead to Constructors' World Championship success in 1986 and 1987, with Nelson Piquet taking the 1987 Drivers' title.

In March 1986, Frank Williams was paralyzed as a result of a road accident near the Paul Ricard racing circuit. He has been confined to a wheelchair ever since.

The Williams-Honda team was dominant in 1986 and 1987 with drivers Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell but in 1988 Honda decided to join McLaren and Williams was left to run Judd engines until a new deal was struck for a supply of Renault V10 engines in 1989. The Williams-Renault partnership was even more successful than the deal with Honda with the team winning World Championships in the early 1990s with Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost. The team suffered a terrible setback in 1994 when Ayrton Senna was killed at Imola but continued to win; with Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve, both of whom became World Champions in 1996 and 1997 respectively.

Frank Williams was awarded a CBE for his services to motor racing in 1987 and was knighted in January 1999. He is also one of the few non-Frenchmen to have been made a Chevalier of France's Legion d'honneur, this honour accorded for his work with Renault engines. In 2008 Williams was awarded the Wheatcroft trophy.



Frank Williams with Patrick Head.




Patrick Head, Nico Rosberg, Alexander Wurz and Frank Williams talking about the history of the Williams team (From the 2007 FIA Review DVD)