'There were two Frank Williams – but he was still so driven'

“After the accident [leaving him wheelchair-bound], he had to rely on people coming to him. He was always saying, ‘Come and tell me what’s going on. What have you heard?’ He would have me read other teams’ press releases to him. Frank would soak it up, he was like a sponge. But before and after, he was still totally effective.”

What has been strongly emphasised in the tributes and obituaries produced in recent days for Williams is the sheer will power that took him to the top of the motor racing world whilst overcoming his physical disability. This characteristic is what Bradshaw witnessed every day in the Williams factory and at the track.

“Frank was the most driven man,” she emphasises. “And he was just was driven by what he wanted to do. He never let the emotion of things, apart from a few certain times, get in the way.

“He was the sort of person that would do anything to further what he wanted to do in the sport. Frank spoke fluent French, fluent Italian – he knew that if he spoke those languages, he could speak to people on their own terms. There was nothing he wouldn’t do to be able to go out, do a deal and get money to go motor racing.”

The wheeling and dealing all simply fed into his boyhood love.

“It was his passion. He really, really was somebody who just wanted to have the best team and best drivers. He was never happier than when he was with his cars. He loved F1 drivers – they were his people and the sort he wanted around, because they were driven like him.”

The competitive spirit which ran through Williams’ veins didn’t just stretch to grand prix racing, as Bradshaw found out early on in her tenure at the team.

“In ’85, prior to the accident, a guy called Dave Warren – an athlete – worked for [team sponsor] Cannon,” remembers Bradshaw. “He ran the 800 metres at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, so he was not the slowest guy on two legs.

“We were testing in Imola, and Frank asked David if he wanted to go for a run before dinner. I’ll always remember that when I came out of my hotel to meet them, I saw two people running.

“The one nearest to me was almost bent double, having to use a lot of energy and puffing – and that was Dave! The guy 100 metres ahead, head up, looking like he could do another how many miles, was Frank! He could have been an athlete, Dave had done the Olympics and Frank was pounding him into the ground.”

The 16 world titles garnered by Williams showed clearly just how much its boss lived off a passion for winning, which commanded a respect up and down the paddock – at even the most comical of moments, such as during Damon Hill’s title celebrations at Suzuka ’96.

“In those days we just had one room, with engineers, caterers , everyone all together, I was trying to get my press release out and make sure we did all the interviews ,” she recalls. “Then Michael [Schumacher] just appears with this bucket of water!

“He looked down at it, he looked up at Frank, thinks about throwing it, then looked back down at the water and thought ‘Uh-oh!’ So off he goes. Next person to appear is David Coulthard. He said ‘You’re right Frank, I am a plonker, you were right to sack me!’

‘To be fair, he was covered in salad dressing. They had all been having a food fight with Karl-Heinz Zimmerman, who did the catering for Rothmans and Bernie Ecclestone.

“The fact that he survived this long was because, in everything he did, never gave up”

Looking back on the high-jinks and huge sporting successes, Bradshaw knows that in an ever-changing landscape of F1, a pioneer in the shape of Williams is highly unlikely to be seen again.

“Frank’s loss to the sport will be for the people that remember those ‘heydays,'” she says. “It’s a passing of a different age. Can you imagine Toto Wolff or Christian Horner doing the things that Frank used to do? I mean, his office was a telephone kiosk. He was a character, someone who everybody admired.

“People would look up to him and say ‘Well, if you can do it. You don’t have to come in with lots of money, but sheer hard work and determination.

“The fact that he survived this long was because, in everything he did, never gave up. He fought to the very end.”