Sir Frank Williams, founder and former team principal of Williams Racing, has died at the age of 79.
The team, based at Grove, won the Formula One drivers’ title seven times. Here we look back at photos of Sir Frank over the years.
Sir Frank took his motor racing team from an empty carpet warehouse in Didcot to the summit of Formula One, overseeing 114 victories, a combined 16 drivers’ and constructors’ world championships, while becoming the longest-serving team boss in the sport’s history.
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His story is made all the more extraordinary by the horrific car crash he suffered in France in 1986, which left him with injuries so devastating doctors considered turning off his life-support machine.
His wife Virginia ordered that her husband be kept alive and his sheer determination and courage – characteristics which personified his career – enabled him to continue with the love of his life, albeit from a wheelchair.
He would remain in his role as Williams team principal for a further 34 years before F1’s greatest family team was sold to an American investment group in August 2020 for £136m.
The crash which left Sir Frank in a wheel chair happened in a rental car.
Following a test at the Paul Ricard circuit, Williams set off on a 98-mile dash to Nice Airport in a rented Ford Sierra. Travelling through the windy roads at speed, he lost control and the car ended up on its roof following a 2.5-metre drop into a field.
Williams’ passenger, the team’s marketing manager Peter Windsor, escaped with minor injuries. But Williams suffered a spinal fracture which would leave him in the wheelchair for the rest of his life.
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“I was late for a plane which I didn’t need to be late for because I got the French time mixed up with the English time,” explained Sir Frank several years later.
“The roads were very bumpy, the hire car was not the world’s best, and suddenly I was off the road upside down and with a broken neck.
“It was very unfair on my family, particularly my wife, because of how my circumstances changed. In hindsight, it was a careless and a selfish thing to have done. Life went on, and I was able to continue, but it has been a handicap in the true sense of the word.”
Despite his life-changing injuries, he was back at the helm of his team within nine months.
Read again: Formula One team founder Sir Frank Williams dies age 79
Over the ensuing 11 years, five further drivers’ championships – including those for Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill – as well as seven constructors’ titles, followed.
Sir Frank was born in South Shields, but was also a popular figure in Oxfordshire and in 2012 a street was named in his honour on the Great Western Park in Didcot.
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