Sir Francis Owen Garbett Williams
Source: Web (autosport.com)
Sports & Athletics • Historical Archive • 🇬🇧 Great Britain • 26 views

Sir Francis Owen Garbett Williams 🇬🇧

Frank Williams (Known as "Sir Frank Williams")
["f1_team_principal","motorsport_pioneer","automotive_engineer","entrepreneur"]
Born Apr 16, 1942 🇬🇧 South Shields, County Durham, Great Britain
Passed Away Nov 28, 2021 London, United Kingdom
Lifespan 79 years old
26 views
Notice / Correction
"I like the wheel-to-wheel combat, the speed, the noise. But above all, I just want to win."

Archival Overview

Legendary Formula One team principal and founder of Williams Grand Prix Engineering whose relentless competitive will overcame a 1986 paralyzing crash to lead his team to 9 Constructors' and 7 Drivers' World Championships and 114 Grand Prix victories.

Biographical Record

Francis Owen Garbett Williams was born in South Shields and worked as a traveling grocery salesman to fund his dream of racing. In 1977, partnering with innovative automotive designer Patrick Head, he founded Williams Grand Prix Engineering in an old carpet warehouse in Didcot, scoring their first Grand Prix win at Silverstone in 1979 with Clay Regazzoni.

In March 1986, Williams sustained a spinal cord injury in a road car crash near the Paul Ricard circuit in France that left him tetraplegic and confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Showing superhuman resilience, he returned to the paddock within months and oversaw Williams's greatest golden era in the late 1980s and 1990s, winning world championships with Alan Jones, Keke Rosberg, Nelson Piquet, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill, and Jacques Villeneuve. Knighted in 1999, he was Formula One's longest-serving team boss.

Key Life Milestones

September 28, 1980

First Formula One World Championship

Won Williams's first Formula One World Constructors' and Drivers' Championships with Australian driver Alan Jones.

January 1, 1999

Knighthood for Services to Motorsport

Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in the New Year Honours for his extraordinary contribution to British motorsport.

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Final Resting Place

Perpetual Memorial
Private
Didcot, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
GPS: 51.6067, -1.2417
View on Memory Atlas
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