A Man For All Seasons

The décor is surprisingly harsh. White walls, a few cupboards and a table. There are no frills to Frank Williams' office: no leather sofas, expensive art or coffee tables. There's pretty much just Frank and his desk.

As you walk across the wooden floor towards Frank's desk, two black and white photographs hanging on the wall will capture your attention. One is of Piers Courage, the other of Ayrton Senna. These are the only drivers to have died in Williams' Formula One machinery. Such is the proximity of the photos, they must catch Frank's eye every time he looks up from his desk.

Frank was close to both men. Courage was his friend and flat-mate in the late-1960s. They lived in London and travelled around the racetracks of Europe together until Courage's death in the 1970 Dutch Grand Prix. There was also a huge mutual respect between Williams and Senna. Frank gave the Brazilian his first F1 test in '83 and then spent the next decade trying to secure his services. The marriage was finally made in '94 but was cut tragically short at the San Marino Grand Prix, in Imola, the third race of the season. "In reputation," says Frank, "Ayrton is the best driver ever to have raced for Williams."

These photos give an insight into the human side of Frank Williams. Despite his austere exterior - most noticeable at races, where he's often lost in thought - he has a distinctly compassionate side. It is these two drivers that Frank wants to be reminded of every day, not the seven drivers who have won world titles for him.

In keeping with his well-ordered surroundings, Frank's empire runs like clockwork. And given that his team's annual turnover is around US$150m, it has to be. Car manufacturing, research and development, race-day costs, team and driver salaries, travel, accommodation and corporate entertaining - all add up to a huge amount of organisation that requires a cool head to keep it under control. The floor area of Williams' Grove headquarters amounts to 280,000 square feet and incorporates two wind tunnels. It rivals the best factories in F1. As Frank says, "We don't lack anything we need to build a race-winning car".

AT&T Williams Team knows how to build a winning F1 machine better than most outfits. Since its first victory at Silverstone in '79, the team has featured regularly in the record books. It has won 113 races, nine constructors' world titles and seven drivers' world titles. The trophies fill an entire floor of the Conference Centre sponsored by the RBS group.

"I'm very proud of our successes," says Frank. "But I don't dwell on the past. I'm always looking ahead, looking for new opportunities for the company. I try to plan five years into the future. I look further down the road than that, but the picture becomes pretty hazy beyond five years. F1 is like that."

He talks the talk of a very hands-on leader, a man who remains the beating heart of the team. His company employs 520 people, but Frank claims to know everyone by sight and most by first name. Yet he doesn't make strategic decisions alone. His business partner Patrick Head has a 30 per cent stake in the company and helps to steer the ship. Both agree that the team is currently passing through a transitional period, technically and at a management level.

"All good teams are run by good teams of executive people," says Frank. "AT&T Williams is renewing itself at the moment with another generation of leaders. This year is the beginning of our preparation for the future, and Patrick and I must ensure that the correct people are in place to move the company forward."

A new CEO is already in place, and 35-year-old technical director Sam Michael has his feet firmly under the table, despite having been at the team for only five years. Other management changes are planned, but Frank is quick to dismiss talk that he is slowing down.

AT&T Williams, he says, will continue to be the focal point of his life, and he will continue to be its cornerstone. After all, it's still Frank that clinches the major sponsorship deals, and he leads the team through the political storms that are commonplace in modern F1. "Helping the company clinch an important sponsorship deal, especially a major one, gives me a real buzz," says Frank. "I'm only part of the team that pulls it off, but I find it very satisfying. Getting RBS as a sponsor was wonderful. It is a fantastic company, and it felt very prestigious to win that account."

Outside of F1, money is one of Frank's few big passions. He is an avid reader of financial books, and every working day begins with a look at the Financial Times - which features F1 with surprising regularity, given that F1 is supposed to be a sport.

"Money causes as many problems in F1 as it solves," says Frank. "It creates a very political environment, and there are many different parties pulling in different directions. That's why I consider F1 first and foremost a business. There are too many difficult decisions that need to be made for it to be a sport, other than between 2pm and 4pm on a Sunday afternoon."

The man at the centre of F1's political maelstrom is Bernie Ecclestone. The 75-year-old billionaire has a reputation for playing the teams against each other, but in a recent dispute about the commercial future of the sport, Frank quickly signed up to Ecclestone's point of view.

"I have enormous respect for Bernie," says Frank. "I first met him in 1969, and he's a good friend. I've seen Bernie's difficult side, I've seen his tough side, and I've seen his amazingly generous side. I have a great deal of time for him."

There are many similarities between the two men. Both are incredibly wealthy, although Bernie's US$4.4bn fortune dwarfs the reputed US$244m in Frank's coffers. Both Frank and Bernie are wheeler-dealers, which provides the catalyst for their mutual respect.

Ecclestone and Williams often discuss drivers, and Bernie helps out where he can. He helped to engineer the deal that brought Jacques Villeneuve to Williams in '96 and he did the same with Nico Rosberg last year. Nico tested regularly for AT&T Williams in 2005, but Frank wasn't sure that he was ready for a race seat in 2006. Until, that is, Bernie got on the telephone.

Bernie's advice on this matter was sound. AT&T Williams has one of the most promising driver line-ups in F1 in the shape of Nico and Kazuki Nakajima.

After 25 years of success at the top level of motor racing, Frank's achievements have transcended the world of sport. In 1999, he received a knighthood in the New Year Honours list, to add to the CBE he received in 1986. His wife, Ginny, will tell you he is immensely proud of his honours, but there are no airs or graces to the man. He asks everyone to call him Frank.

Such humility generates great loyalty from his workforce and the fans. It is not surprising that there are 30 people at AT&T Williams who have worked there for 25 years or more, and it has become a tradition for Frank to give everyone who reaches that milestone a watch. His next appointment after this interview is to present watches for long service to two men from the machine shop.

"It means a lot to have that kind of loyalty," he says. "Equally, it's very exciting when someone new joins the team - Nico, for instance. He's obviously very fast, and he generates a lot of hope inside the team."

That hope lifts everyone, including Frank, who remains convinced that the team can succeed in 2007. "We have ambitions to win this year," he says. "I'd never say that it will happen, but if it does I'll be absolutely delighted."

First published in World of Sport in March 2007.