Patrick Head Technical Partnership

Lore & Background

Patrick Head was born into motor sport, his father Michael racing Jaguar sportscars in the 1950s, and was privately educated at Wellington College. After leaving school, Head joined the Royal Navy but soon left to attend university, first in Birmingham and later, after failing his first year exams, at UCL. Head graduated in 1970 with a Mechanical Engineering degree, and immediately joined the chassis manufacturer Lola in Huntingdon. Here he formed a friendly relationship with John Barnard. Head was involved in a number of new projects and it was during this period that Head and Frank Williams met. Finally becoming disillusioned by his lack of success Head quit motor racing to work on building boats, but was lured back by Williams to join his team, which Head did during 1975. In 1976, Frank Williams decided to re-form his own team and lured Head back into Formula One. On 8 February 1977 Williams Grand Prix Engineering was founded with Williams and Head taking seventy and thirty per cent of the company respectively. In 1977 the team raced a customer March chassis, but in 1978, with backing from Saudi Airlines and having signed Australian driver Alan Jones, the Head-designed FW06 made its first appearance. The following season Williams scored 11 world championship points finishing 9th in the constructors' championship. As early as the fourth round of the 1979 season Jones made the team's first visit to the podium. The same year saw a Head-designed car take the first of over one-hundred race wins when Swiss driver Clay Regazzoni won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Four more victories followed in 1979. Head's 1980 car was the class of the field, taking Alan Jones and the team to both titles. More success followed in the 1980s and Head began to move away from designing the cars himself, effectively creating a role of Technical Director. Frank Dernie took over as chief designer. During the 1980s he is also credited with many revolutionary concepts including a six-wheeled car, which tested in 1982, and continuously variable transmission. Neither system made it into racing due to rule changes. In 1986, Head, with other Williams management, was forced to assume control of the team when Frank Williams was seriously injured in a road accident. Despite this diversion, and under Head's temporary stewardship, the team still secured the constructors' title in 1986 an

In Their Own Story

The rain lashed against the canopy of the Silverstone garage as Patrick Head leaned over the blueprints of the FW14B. The air smelled of wet earth and high-octane fuel. 'The suspension geometry is perfect,' he murmured, tracing a line with his pen, 'but the electronics need to be flawless if we are to win this championship.' Beside him, Frank Williams nodded silently, trusting the engineer's vision completely. In that quiet moment, amidst the chaos of a Grand Prix weekend, the blueprint for dominance was finalized—a machine not just built to race, but engineered to rule.

Reader's Guide

Patrick Head is a key figure in Williams Racing history, co-founding the team and serving as technical director for 27 years. He oversaw design and construction until 2004, when Sam Michael took over. Head's early career included work at Lola and a brief stint building boats before joining Frank Williams. He designed the FW06 and later cars that won championships. In the 1990s, he partnered with Adrian Newey, leading to dominant success. After Newey's departure, Williams declined. Head moved to Director of Engineering in 2004, resigned in 2012, and returned as a consultant in 2019. He was knighted in 2015. The source does not specify Head's role in designing the FW14B or FW15C; it states Adrian Newey was hired in 1990 and formed a design partnership with Head. The source also does not mention traction control on any specific Williams car.

Did You Know?

• Patrick Head was a co-founder of Williams Grand Prix Engineering, holding 30% of the company.
• Head designed the FW06, which made its first appearance in 1978.
• Head briefly tried racing in 1988, appearing in the Celebrity Car in the inaugural Honda CR-X Challenge.
• The Italian Court of Appeal found Head responsible for Ayrton Senna's fatal accident due to a steering column failure, but he was not arrested due to the statute of limitations.
• Head received a knighthood in 2015 for services to motorsport.