Sir Frank Williams

Sir Francis Owen Garbett Williams CBE
Frank Williams in 2011
Born	Francis Owen Garbett Williams (1942-04-16) 16 April 1942 (age 75) South Shields, County Durham, England
Nationality	British
Education	St Joseph's College, Dumfries
Occupation	Founder & Team Principal
Employer	Williams F1 (Founder and Majority Shareholder)
Net worth	£106 million (2014)
Title	GBE
Spouse(s)	Virginia Williams (1974-2013; her death)
Children	3

Sir Francis Owen Garbett "Frank" Williams CBE (born 16 April 1942) is a British businessman and former driver and mechanic. He is a founder and team principal of the Williams Formula One racing team.

Born in South Shields, County Durham, England, son of a serving RAF officer and a special education teacher (and later headmistress), Williams was in part brought up by his maternal aunt and uncle in Jarrow when his parents' marriage broke down. He subsequently spent much of his later childhood at a private, fee-paying boarding school, St Joseph's College, Dumfries, in Scotland. In the late 1950s a friend gave Williams a ride in his Jaguar XK150 and young Frank was immediately hooked on fast cars.

After a brief career as a driver and mechanic, funded by his work as a travelling grocery salesman, Williams founded Frank Williams Racing Cars in 1966. He ran drivers including Piers Courage and Tony Trimmer for several years in Formula Two and Formula Three. Williams purchased a Brabham Formula One chassis, which Courage drove throughout the 1969 Formula One season, twice finishing in second place.

In 1970 Williams undertook a brief partnership with Alejandro de Tomaso. After the death of Courage at the Dutch Grand Prix that year, Williams's relationship with de Tomaso ended. In 1971 he raced Henri Pescarolo with a chassis he had purchased from March Engineering. 1972 saw the first F1 car built by the Williams works, the Politoys FX3 designed by Len Bailey, but Pescarolo crashed and destroyed it at its first race.