Jonathan Williams (racing driver)

Jonathan Williams

Nation:	Great Britain
Automobile world championship
First start:	1967 Mexican Grand Prix
Last start:	1967 Mexican Grand Prix
Constructors
1967 Ferrari
statistics
World Cup balance:	no World Cup placement
Starts Victories Poles SR 1 - - -
World Cup points :	-
Podiums :	-
Leadership laps :	-

Jonathan James Williams (born October 26, 1942 in Cairo , Egypt , † August 31, 2014 in Spain ) was a British automobile racing driver .

life and career

Jonathan Williams' racing career in the first few years was closely linked to that of the racing driver and later racing car dealer and team boss Frank Williams . There was no family relationship between them, although they had been close friends since around 1961. Both started racing club races in the UK in the early 1960s. At times they competed against each other in Formula Junior . From 1963, Frank Williams was the mechanic of his friend Jonathan and organized his races, which initially operated under the name Anglo-Swiss Racing . Jonathan Williams later moved from London to Italy. There he drove in Formula 3 in 1967 for the De Sanctis team , which was more noticeable for its poor organization and futuristic chassis than its success. Nevertheless, in 1967 Williams got twice the chance to compete as a works driver for Scuderia Ferrari . In addition to a race in the Formula 2 European Championship , he also drove a Formula 1 Grand Prix for the Italians. At the Mexican Grand Prix , Williams started as a substitute for the injured Mike Parkes , but in the Ferrari 312F1 it was only enough for eighth place.

Jonathan Williams, who also contested some sports car and CanAm races for Scuderia, was hoping for a permanent contract with Ferrari. This hope was not fulfilled, however, a Formula 1 project by Abarth did not materialize either.

Williams, who was one of the best drivers in Formula 3 in 1965 and 1966, switched to Formula 2 and competed in 1968 for his friend Frank Williams, who had meanwhile founded his own racing team - Frank Williams Racing Cars . Jonathan Williams won the Monza Lottery for Frank Williams . It was the first victory for the young British racing team.

In the early 1970s, Jonathan Williams drove the works Serenissima in the sports car world championship and also competed in this racing series for privateers on a wide variety of vehicles. After the end of his career, Williams trained as a commercial pilot for commercial aircraft and practiced this profession for many years. He also worked as a photographer and author.

The friendship between Jonathan and Frank Williams lasted for decades. Frank Williams named his son, born in 1975, after Jonathan Williams.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1968	Scuderia Filipinetti	Ferrari 250LM	Herbert Mueller	failure	Wheel bearing damage
1970	Solar Productions	Porsche 908/2	Herbert Linge	not classified (camera car)

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1967	Scuderia Brescia Corse	Ferrari Dino 206S	Mario Casoni	failure	Cylinder overheated

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	18th	19th	20th	21st	22nd
1963	John Aley	Mini	DAY	SEB	SEB	TAR	SPA	MAY	ONLY	CON	ROS	LEM	MON	WIS	TAV	FRE	CCE	RTT	OVI	ONLY	MON	MON	TDF	BRI
																				DNF
1966		De Sanctis	DAY	SEB	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	MUG	CCE	HOK	SIM	ONLY	ZEL
										DNF
1967	Scuderia Brescia Corse Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Nettuno	Ferrari Dino 206S Ferrari Dino 206P Ferrari 330P4	DAY	SEB	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	HOK	MUG	BRH	CCE	ZEL	OVI	ONLY
				DNF	DNF		4th					6th
1968	Scuderia Filipinetti	Ferrari 250LM	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	ONLY	SPA	WAT	ZEL	LEM
												DNF
1969	Paul Hawkins Antonio Nicodemi	Lola T70 Porsche 907	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	WAT	ZEL
					DNF		DNF
1970	Antonio Nicodemi Scuderia Madunina Solar Productions	Porsche 907 Alfa Romeo T33 Porsche 908	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	WAT	ZEL
						DNF	7th			DNF
1971	Antonio Nicodemi	Lola T212	BUA	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	ZEL	WAT
									7th

literature

• Maurice Hamilton: Frank Williams. The inside story of the man behind Williams-Renault . London 1998. ISBN 0333717163 .

Web link

Commons : Jonathan Williams  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Jonathan Williams biography

Individual evidence

1. ^ Adam Cooper: Jonathan Williams 1942-2014 . Adam Cooper's F1 Blog, September 1st, 2014