Skip to main content

The Williams way

Image
By
If anyone in the Formula 1 world deserves an award, it's Sir Frank Williams.

It was satisfying, then, to see him pick up the Helen Rollason Award at the BBC Sports Personality Of The Year ceremony before Christmas.

Clearly, Frank's '86 card accident that left him paralysed has indelibly marked his life, but he has freely admitted that he wrecked numerous cars previously and was driving like a nutter at the time. But what is most remarkable is that he has simply worked around his disability and carried on running one of F1's most successful and popular F1 teams, with a string of World Championships and a list of drivers that many teams can only dream of.

But it would be unwise to assume that the frail old man in a wheelchair is weak-minded; Far from it. Whilst the equally tough Patrick Head has engineered top cars, Frank has always been the one making the tough business decisions and wielding the axe with driver contracts in a rigorously unemotional way. Ask Damon - World Champ in '96, booted out at the end of the season.

Whilst Frank might be easing off slightly and allowing others to come into the team and take on some of the day-to-day responsibility, it would be wrong to think that he's winding down. For a guy who works virtually every day of the year, that would be an unwise assumption. The fire still burns strongly for more wins.

Let's hope that Williams are able to move back up the grid in the near future. If anyone deserves it, it's the man with his name above the garage door.

(Listening to Craig Charles on Radio 2 right now....)
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Malaysian Grand Prix - Vettel hot, but not bothered

By
Malaysia. It's always hot, and it always rains. Except the 2nd part is no longer true (unless you count the drizzly bit around lap 14). Saturday's qualifying session had highlighted the fact that Red Bull and McLaren seemed well matched on pace, but also that Ferrari were struggling. Whilst Vettel bagged another pole, followed by Hamilton, Webber and Button, Alonso was only 5th, and Massa 7th, with Nick Heidfeld an excellent 6th on the grid between the two red cars. At this point, I would like to break momentarily for a small rant: How many times do I have to say Heidfeld is good? Why wasn't he given a top drive years ago? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?! ARE YOU BLIND!!!?? Ahem. The Hispanias somehow managed to a) turn up b) remember to bring cars c) get both of them on the track d) actually get both of them within 107%. Pretty remarkable really. Oh, and it didn't rain. Race day looked a more likely candidate for a drop of the wet stuff. The start was exciting, with
5 comments
Read more

I know I'll regret this...

By
For @Feisty_Onion @BroughtonLass @LizWestmorland Me... before the grumpiness set in. Have a great weekend.
1 comment
Read more

Senna bags Willy drive?

By
The great thing about F1 rumours is that they change every 5 minutes. Just last week it was looking like Barrichello might be back in at Williams, as new engines, tech staff and a general reshuffle would mean they needed someone who actually knew what they were doing in an F1 car. Which rules out Maldonado, obviously. Now it looks like Senna might be about to get a seat with the team where his Uncle lost his life. I'm sure Bruno's mum must be delighted. I don't hold with all this superstitious mumbo-jumbo though, and with the extraordinary level of safety in modern F1 cars, Bruno should be pretty safe. There is one significant problem with Williams signing him though - and this is going to be a bit unpopular I suspect - Bruno isn't very good. Yes, he put in a couple of reasonable performances with Renault, but Nick Heidfeld (ah... Nick and his lovely beard...) would have been able to do likewise, has he not been dropped. And then they dropped Senna too. Thi
2 comments
Read more