“I was gratified to learn afterwards that every fire extinguisher in the
paddock was used by pretty much every team up and down the pit-lane,”
Williams says, shaking his head.
“The reaction was extraordinary. Overwhelming. All the teams have been on
saying, ‘Whatever you need, we’ll help you out’. Fantastic. I don’t know
exactly what we have accepted but I have asked for a list to be created.
“My main job when I get to Monaco is to go around all the team principals and
thank them, and try to pay them back for whatever they gave us.”
No doubt the same support would have been offered to any team in similar
straits, but it is tempting to suggest the response in this instance was
particularly urgent because of the affection in which Williams, and in
particular their founder, is held by the sport at large.
The evening before the Barcelona race, Williams was thrown a surprise 70th
birthday party in the paddock at which the great and the good came to pay
homage. From Bernie Ecclestone to former Williams drivers David Coulthard
and Mark Webber, they queued up to sing the praises of “a proper racer”,
whose lifelong passion for cars began in the 1950s when a friend gave him a
ride in his Jaguar, who built his team from nothing and went on to claim
seven drivers’ and nine constructors’ titles. They spoke of his
“unquenchable spirit”, the road accident which has confined Williams to a
wheelchair since 1986 having utterly failed to slow him down.
Rising costs in an era dominated by manufacturer-backed teams did, though, and
the team’s decline over the last decade was painful to watch. Somehow they
appear to be back from the brink.
Williams admits that the thought that he would never again see one of his cars
win a grand prix had crossed his mind.
“It wasn’t so much the fear,” he says. “There was just a stronger and stronger
sense of embarrassment. As the years went by and we started disappearing and
it was too late to jump, you know?
“But I can’t say I spent weeks lying in bed worrying about it. Fortunately
better people than myself came along and sorted it out.”
One of the people to whom he is referring is former chairman Adam Parr, who
left the company in mysterious circumstances earlier this season. Williams
will still not be drawn on the “private” reasons why that happened but says
he would not be surprised to see him back in the sport, “possibly on the
commercial side”.
“He has a brilliant mind,” he says. “I speak to him often. He is delighted for
the team and should take his share of the credit. All of the top people here
— well, not all of them, but quite a few — were recruited by Adam: Mike
Coughlan, Jason Somerville, Ed Wood.”
That all-new technical team is just one element of the sweeping changes which
have enabled Williams to make a far more encouraging start to 2012. There is
also a new engine supplier in Renault, a new driver in Bruno Senna, while
Williams’ co-founder, Patrick Head, quit the team over the winter. “He was a
bit jealous he wasn’t part of [the win] but he was fundamental to it,”
Williams says.
By luck or judgment the drastic overhaul seems to have worked.
Williams is certainly getting excited again. His eyes light up at the thought
of Monaco this weekend. Does he believe his team rise from the ashes of
Barcelona to post another win?
“Yes. I do,” he says after a lengthy pause. “Barcelona was a surprise but we
knew we had improved. The car is very nicely balanced. And the biggest
surprise, or pleasure, is to find Maldo is very, very competitive. Totally
apolitical. And brings in useful amounts of sponsorship.”
‘Useful’ is one word for a reputed £29.4 million from Venezuelan state-owned
oil company PDVSA this year alone.
“Now Bruno must respond. Maldo’s win will give him a kick up the backside.
Which he needs. We’ll see. Everyone is saying Maldo is magic around Monte
Carlo and to some extent he is [the Venezuelan has won in every category he
has raced in at the Principality]. But it is by no means a given.
“Formula One is vicious. If you make the slightest mistake, you’re dead. So
it’s best to show humility.”
As he rattles on, warming to the theme, it is impossible not to marvel at the
enthusiasm which still shines through at 70.
How long can he keep it up? Williams referred to the “gradual but inevitable
process of handing over the reins” in a pre-season statement in which he
announced he was stepping down from the board of directors.
“It doesn’t really change anything,” he says now of that decision. “Whether I
go to the board meetings or not doesn’t change anything.
“All the individuals with their divisional responsibilities do a super job.
I’m still the controlling shareholder and team principal.”
So what would it take to slow him down? “Someone has got to say to me, ‘Frank,
you’re forgetting too much’ or, ‘You’re getting in the way’.”
And would he? “If I really thought I was buggering things up by being there,
then yes. But I don’t think that’s quite a reality yet.
“You know what it is? I’m just being nuts about racing. And speed. Driving
sideways at 140mph, that’s what gets me. Not winning the championship; that
is a sidebar almost. It’s the racing.”