Team Principals
Chief Executive - Frank Williams
Frank Williams' determination to battle against the odds was never more clearly illustrated than by the courageous way he fought back after suffering serious injuries in a car crash just before the start of the 1986 season. The accident, just outside the Paul Ricard circuit in France, left him confined to a wheelchair for the remainder of his life. It was an accident that so nearly claimed his life, but instead of bemoaning his fate he fought his way back to lead Williams Grand Prix Engineering in the only way he knew how.
Frank Williams was born on 16 April 1942 at South Shields on the Southern shores of the River Tyne. His mother was a school teacher and his father a pilot in the RAF. He went to boarding school in Dumfries, Scotland where he first read about motor racing. He soon developed a very keen interest in the sport following the exploits of the likes of Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins and in 1958 he attended one of his very first races - the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, which was won by Collins driving the Ferrari.
He was completely hooked and spent all his free time hitch-hiking around the country watching racing, often spending hours on wet, cold and dark roads waiting for a lift. He left school and started work as a management trainee with the Rootes Group dealer in Nottingham, although his spare time was spent following motor racing.
As soon as he was old enough for a licence he was racing, starting with an ex-Graham Hill Speedwell Austin at Oulton Park in 1961. Little did he realise then that he would later provide Graham's son, Damon, with the cars which would take him to his first Grand Prix victory, and his 1996 World Championship crown.
He was always having a financial fight to continue racing and, despite some good Formula Three results, especially in Scandinavia, Frank Williams began to realise his real talent lay in preparation and team management. He'd also moved to a flat in Pinner Road, Harrow, on the outskirts of London.
He shared this flat with a number of other hard-up occupants, who lived on their total enthusiasm for motor sport. It was crowded so Frank slept on the settee, but he also established a spare parts business from that address which was the very foundation for Williams Grand Prix Engineering.
Formula One was always Williams' ambition and this he realised in 1969. Up to then he had prepared a variety of cars for other people and ran his own Formula Two team, with his close friend, Piers Courage, driving. His foray into Formula One with Courage was with a private Brabham and their efforts were rewarded with eighth overall in the 1969 Drivers' Championship.
Technical Director - Patrick Head
Patrick gained an early interest in motor racing from his father's racing career, principally in Jaguar sports cars in the 1950's. After graduating with a mechanical engineering degree from University College London, Patrick raced karts and competed in some rallies before realising that his talents were not being put to good use behind the wheel. From early 1970, Patrick worked for Lola Cars alongside John Barnard on a variety of machines including Indy, Can Am and two litre sports cars. Following this Patrick assisted Ron Tauranac at Trojan, designing Formula 5000 and Formula One cars.
As an extension of his continued interest in sailing, Patrick became involved in boat building before he teamed up with Frank Williams in 1975. After a season with Walter Wolf Racing, the duo set up Williams Grand Prix Engineering in March 1977 and competed with a second hand March.
The first Patrick Head designed Formula One car, the FW06, appeared in 1978. A year later his designs were winning Grands Prix and two years after that, won both the Driver and Constructor World Championships for the first time.
Patrick was born in Farnborough, Hampshire on 5th June 1946. He currently lives with his wife and son in London and enjoys cycling and sailing.
Chief Designer - Gavin Fisher
After graduating from Hatfield Polytechnic in 1986 with a First Class Honours Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Gavin spent three years working for a design consultancy before joining WilliamsF1 as a Designer in May 1989.
Appointed Chief Designer in 1997, Gavin leads a team of around 15 designers and is responsible, in conjunction with the Chief Aerodynamicist, for the overall design of the WilliamsF1 chassis and for its development throughout the season
Born in Harrow, Middlesex on 30th August 1964, Gavin now lives in Wiltshire with his wife and three children. His hobbies are based around two-wheeled modes of transport - motocross and mountain biking.
The Drivers
