Frank's first taste of international sport came when he played rugby for Scottish Schools Under-15s. A love of the oval ball game seems far removed from the foundation of one of the most successful teams in Formula One history. However, Frank's fascination for fast cars was formed at an equally young age, when he took a ride in a friend's Jaguar XK150S, the most fashionable and desirable sports car of the time.
After leaving school in the Scottish Borders, Frank earned £10 a week as a trainee sales representative for Campbell's soup. Despite promising prospects, the job got in the way of his passion for racing and it wasn't long before it fell by the wayside.
As a keen amateur racer, Frank took part – with varying degrees of success – in race meetings across the country. At a meeting at Mallory Park, he met a fellow-driver Jonathan Williams, who would be instrumental in introducing Frank to many influential figures in the motor racing business.
Years later, Jonathan went to see Frank at the team motor home at the Monaco Grand Prix. "He never forgets the old days," said Jonathan. "He called out to Damon Hill and said, 'Damon, this is Jonathan. I used to be his mechanic'. It was completely untrue, he was hopeless – you were lucky if he got the right end of the car!"
Realising that his talents were better suited to management, Frank set about the challenging and difficult task of running his own Formula 2 team. For the next few years, he slowly began to gain the experience and contacts that would be required when, in 1977, he set up Williams Grand Prix Engineering with the promising young engineer, Patrick Head.
Frank's determination to make his team a success was rewarded when he secured funding for his fledgling Formula One team from Saudia – the airline of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
In these early days, it was Frank's desire and enthusiasm that were critical in steering a course through the many difficulties that were inevitably encountered. Ross Brawn, who joined the team in its infancy and went on to enjoy further success at Benetton and Ferrari recalls: "There were a few times when it began to look a bit shaky but Frank would extend himself as far as possible – he had tremendous drive."
The hard work and personal sacrifice eventually paid off and Williams became the most successful F1 of the 1980s. And yet, for all his intensity and focus, Frank has a keen sense of humour as Irishman Derek Daly, who drove for the team in 1982, remembers. "When I was racing for him you could see the sense of humour come out. Frank wouldn't sit down and chat, but you could really make him roar with laughter, and then he would switch off and get back to business."
Despite a serious road accident in 1986 that left Frank confined to a wheelchair, his drive and determination have never waned and, having built the team into one of the most admired privately run businesses in the UK, he was knighted in the New Year's Honours list of 1999. He has also received the Queen's Award for Export (1981 and 1994) and has been a rare foreign recipient of France's Legion d'Honneur.
In 2008, Frank will record his 600th race as a Formula One entrant and, in starting his 39th year in the sport, he will surpass even the record of the legendary Enzo Ferrari.
When Patrick joined Williams Grand Prix Engineering in 1978 as Chief Designer, the idea of a long career in motor sport was most definitely not on his agenda.
However, after his first year at the team, and with Alan Jones at the wheel of the FW06, there was a profound shift in his attitude. He recalled: "I went through a period of thinking, 'this could be a bit of fun and maybe I'll go and do something else next year', to thinking, 'actually this is quite good and if we put our heads down, we could maybe achieve something and win a Grand Prix'."
Williams did indeed win a Grand Prix – many, in fact – and Patrick has one of the most distinguished careers in Formula One. Yet, it could all have been so different. Despite being born into the world of sports car racing – his father, Michael Head, was a successful amateur racer – Patrick went to the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth on a scholarship at his father's insistence.
He was not taken by the prospect of a life on the high seas, so he bought himself out of his contract for £195. Then, having been the beneficiary of a family inheritance, Patrick financed himself through an honours degree at London University. After briefly racing clubman sports cars, he was drawn towards the world of motor sport and joined Lola Cars, one of Britain's most respected manufacturers.
After two and a half years with Lola, Patrick left to set up an engine development facility but the enterprise was short-lived when the premises was destroyed by fire. He then had the opportunity to design an F2 car for Richard Scott before joining Peter Agg's Trojan organisation to help former Brabham designer, Ron Tauranac. Soon after, he joined Frank Williams Racing in Reading, which subsequently changed its name to Walter Wolf Racing. Then, in early 1977, he moved on with Frank to set up Williams Grand Prix Engineering. It was to be a decision that he would not regret.
After a season running a single March car, Patrick designed the FW06 that put the team on the map, and he began to influence the team in just as many ways as Frank. Over the years that followed, he forged a reputation as a brilliant designer, and a succession of competitive racing cars rolled out of the factory at Station Road in Didcot.
His comprehensive and meticulous approach to engineering excellence was apparent right from the start. Alan Jones recalled: "I had absolute blind faith in Patrick's ability and still do."
The other quality Head passed on to his team of engineers was a passion for innovation and challenging conventional wisdom. Over the decades that followed, pragmatism was carefully blended with a succession of concepts, ideas and technologies which, while validated elsewhere, had not been seen in Formula One until they appeared on a Williams race car.
Patrick Head, as much as Frank Williams, has been a driving force within the Williams organisation for close on three decades. The remarkable relationship between the two company owners means it is impossible to credit either with the 16 World Championships the team has won. And there, perhaps, lies the secret – neither man has won a trophy in their own right, but their ideal blend of qualities and skills has allowed their working relationship to endure and succeed.
Although now widely regarded as one of the most competent race engineers and strategists in the pit lane, Sam's introduction to engineering came on the family farm in Western Australia, where he learned that fixing and maintaining machinery was an essential part of family life.
Early life on the farm also provided him with the space to ride motorbikes, so his formative years were spent engaged with all things mechanical. It's little surprise then that, despite the relatively small Australian motor racing industry and the national obsession with rugby, cricket and athletics, Sam was drawn to Formula One.
Despite a fascination with cars, he quickly dismissed notions of competing and focused instead on achieving the school grades that would allow him to study mechanical engineering at university.
By the time Sam had graduated from the University of New South Wales in 1993, he had supplemented his academic studies with a considerable amount of time working on open-wheel racing cars for the Formula Holden team. Initially, he had assisted with general race mechanics, but became increasingly involved in data acquisition and vehicle simulation, which became the subject of his degree thesis.
Holden team boss Greg Siddle was instrumental in introducing Sam to Peter Collins, the manager at Team Lotus. Clearly, Sam made a immediate impression on Peter because shortly after their first meeting at the Adelaide Grand Prix in 1993, he was recruited and swiftly relocated to the UK, where he began work under the stewardship of Peter Wright on data acquisition and simulation activities.
His time at Team Lotus would be short lived, however, as the team closed in 1994. By then, Sam's potential had been spotted by Gary Anderson, who encouraged him to join Jordan's engineering group. For the next few years, Sam developed the team's embryonic R&D department but a move to the front line seemed inevitable.
He became Ralf Schumacher's race engineer, then worked with Heinz-Harald Frentzen, and was instrumental in guiding the Jordan team through its most successful period – they finished third in the 1999 World Championship.
In 2001, after seven years at Jordan, Sam was persuaded to join Williams as the team's Chief Operations Engineer. "I was particularly attracted to Williams because the team has an engineering-led ethos," said Sam. "I have a good team of people around me, but it's my job to push everyone in what I believe is the right direction and set high standards for us to achieve."
After three successful seasons working alongside Patrick Head, Sam took over as Technical Director in May 2004, adding the design and development of the race cars to his list of responsibilities, and leaving Head to focus on the company's engineering strategies as Director of Engineering.
A graduate of Eton and Cambridge, Adam trained and practised as a barrister in London but spent most of his 20-year career before Williams in finance and industry. He worked in the UK, Japan, South Africa and Australia for Barclays Bank and Rio Tinto before joining Williams in 2006.
Most of Alex's career before joining Williams F1 was in the aerospace industry. When he left school, he joined Westland Helicopters on an undergraduate training scheme that gave him work experience in a variety of production and design areas.
He gained a degree in mechanical engineering from Imperial College, London and later joined Meggitt plc. He held a number of positions there and as Engineering Director of Meggitt Aerospace Components worked on a variety of civil, military and space projects, including the Ariane 4 and 5 satellite launch vehicles. He gained an MBA at Cranfield University and became Managing Director of Meggitt Electronic Components, working in the automotive and medical industries.
After joining joined Williams as General Manager in 2002, his pivotal role in managing all aspects of the factory and the car production process meant that he played a fundamental role in the establishment of the business's executive forum, the Senior Management Group. Alex was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in 2004.
Jane is the most recent appointment to Williams' Senior Management Group, having taken up the post of General Counsel in late 2007. A multi-lingual Australian, Jane read law at the Australian National University, Canberra, following a first degree in English & art history. Admitted as a solicitor to practice in Australia in 1998, Jane's first career role was serving as an associate to Justice Brian Tamberlin in the Federal Court of Australia.
In 1999, Jane joined the leading Sydney law firm, Mallesons Stephen Jaques, as an associate specialising in corporate, telecoms and competition law. Two years later, she took up a post with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and worked as a senior associate to build on her experience in anti-trust and commercial law. During this period, Jane also graduated from King's College, London with a Masters with distinction in European Community Law.
