Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsWilliams

Williams co-founder Head receives knighthood

Williams co-founder and former technical director Patrick Head has been knighted for services to motorsport.

Head - who will now be known as Sir Patrick Head - teamed up with Sir Frank Williams in 1976 to form Williams Grand Prix Engineering and his first race-winning design was the 1979 FW07. Head's 1980 car saw the team secure a drivers' and constructors' championship double with Alan Jones, while more success followed with the 1986 constructors' title and another championship double the following year.

In partnership with Adrian Newey, Williams dominated the mid-nineties, winning 59 race wins, five Constructors’ titles and four Drivers’ titles between 1991 and 1997.

Following news of the knighthood, Williams described Head as "the design genius" which elevated the team to one of the best in the sport.

“My name may be above the door, but I have always stressed that the creation and subsequent success of Williams was very much a team effort," Williams said. "My co-founder Patrick Head was the design genius who turned us from a small upstart into a World Championship winning force.

"His engineering talent helped play a key role in establishing Great Britain as a leading force in global motorsport and the benefits of this are still being felt to this day, both culturally and economically. This Award is thoroughly deserved for his contribution to British engineering and motorsport.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.