Sir Frank Williams, who has died at the age of 79, will perhaps be remembered as an endlessly enterprising Formula One team owner. Though he did not design cars, his business acumen and persistent energy was key to his team’s success.
At one point in the 1960s, after losing his business premises during his racing career, he famously operated out of a phone box.
Sir Frank started out with a passion for driving cars himself, travelling internationally and racing with a band of like-minded car enthusiasts.
While he had some thrilling highs, he also experienced bitterly cruel lows as a grand prix team owner. The team he founded in 1977 – Williams Grand Prix Engineering – won an impressive nine constructors’ world championships and seven drivers’ titles during the 80s and 90s. Notably, it is one of only three teams in Formula One (the others being Ferrari and McLaren) to win 100 races.
Sir Frank had two other short-lived teams: Frank Williams Racing Cars and Wolf-Williams Racing. In 1970, his close friend Piers Courage, who drove for his team Frank Williams Racing Cars, died in an accident during the Dutch Grand Prix. Another driver, Ayrton Senna, tragically died in 1994.
In March 1986, he had an accident which could have killed him near Nice airport. He then used a wheelchair and could not use his limbs. Undeterred, he continued running the team.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown said: “We have lost a true hero of our sport and an inspiration for so many beyond it. Sir Frank not only created a special F1 legacy but showed the power of human determination to overcome huge adversity.”
Stefano Domenicali, Formula One’s CEO, said: “He was a true giant of our sport that overcame the most difficult of challenges in life and battled every day to win, on and off the track. We have lost a much-loved and respected member of the F1 family. His incredible achievements and personality will be etched on our sport forever.”
Sir Frank was born in South Shields, Tyne and Wear. His father, Owen, was an RAF fighter pilot, who left when he was barely a toddler. His mother, Clare, worked in education with children with special needs. He attended a Roman Catholic boarding school in Dumfries, Scotland. Even during his early years, he showed a real passion for cars.
In 2012, he handed his beloved team over to his daughter, Claire. Despite everyone’s best efforts, the team was not as successful as it once had been.
In 2013, he said: “Once you’ve been at the top, it’s hard to accept that you’re quite a long way from being at the top again. But you have to grow up and deal with it. Having been there before makes me even more hungry to get there again and reassert myself.”
In 2020, however, the racing team was sold to a US investment firm, but it still bears his surname.
Sir Frank is survived by three children, Jonathan, Claire and Jaime, as well as three grandchildren.
Sir Frank Williams, grand prix team owner, born 16 Aril 1942, died 28 November 2021
