Sad to hear that Patrick Head is ending his involvement with Formula One as from the end of this season. Apparently he will still be working for Williams but nothing to do with the racing team.
In the thirty years I have been a fan and follower of Formula One Patrick Head is one of the characters of the sport that has always been there. Back when I started following F1 in 1981, Patrick was arguably at the peak of his brilliance. The Williams FW07B he had designed had just won the previous years championships (both drivers and constructors) and it's successor, the FW07C, was in the running for both titles until the last race but in the end had to settle for just the constructors. In 1982, the fourth incarnation of the FW07, the normally aspirated model D won the drivers championship in the hands of Keke Rosberg despite being considerably underpowered compared to some of it's turbocharged rivals.
As the years progressed, Patrick Head seemed to move from being chief designer to being more a technical director, helping to keep the many complex facets of a modern Formula One design team synchronised. He also took on the responsibility of leading the team for much of the 1986 season after team founder Frank Williams was seriously hurt in a road accident. All through the years though he was always a presence in the Williams garage. Other designers like Adrian Newey came into the team and produced vehicles as brilliant as Heads earlier designs. Patrick Head though was always there, one feels he was having the final say on what a Williams Grand Prix car was going to look like when it hit the track. He was also often quite frank in interviews and wouldn't be afraid to criticise the performance of one of his drivers, you felt though that he appreciated and respected a driver who would do his cars justice.
Despite being a hard taskmaster, I can't think of any controversy surrounding Patrick Heads career. He has always played to race and raced to win.
In the thirty years I have been a fan and follower of Formula One Patrick Head is one of the characters of the sport that has always been there. Back when I started following F1 in 1981, Patrick was arguably at the peak of his brilliance. The Williams FW07B he had designed had just won the previous years championships (both drivers and constructors) and it's successor, the FW07C, was in the running for both titles until the last race but in the end had to settle for just the constructors. In 1982, the fourth incarnation of the FW07, the normally aspirated model D won the drivers championship in the hands of Keke Rosberg despite being considerably underpowered compared to some of it's turbocharged rivals.
As the years progressed, Patrick Head seemed to move from being chief designer to being more a technical director, helping to keep the many complex facets of a modern Formula One design team synchronised. He also took on the responsibility of leading the team for much of the 1986 season after team founder Frank Williams was seriously hurt in a road accident. All through the years though he was always a presence in the Williams garage. Other designers like Adrian Newey came into the team and produced vehicles as brilliant as Heads earlier designs. Patrick Head though was always there, one feels he was having the final say on what a Williams Grand Prix car was going to look like when it hit the track. He was also often quite frank in interviews and wouldn't be afraid to criticise the performance of one of his drivers, you felt though that he appreciated and respected a driver who would do his cars justice.
Despite being a hard taskmaster, I can't think of any controversy surrounding Patrick Heads career. He has always played to race and raced to win.
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