Dickie Stanford F1 race mechanic and team manager

FOR A BLOKE WHO CONFESSES TO having no formal training in mechanical engineering, Richard ‘Dickie’ Stanford seems to have done all right for himself. Williams Grand Prix Engineering Formula 1 race mechanic for Nigel Mansell and then a key member of the test team. Later, chief mechanic for Williams. Then Williams team manager during the team’s golden years: he has the distinction of being the last Williams team manager to lift a Constructors’ trophy, back in 1997. He was with the team for five Drivers’ Championship titles and seven Constructors’ titles, and worked with some of the greatest names in motorsport: Frank Williams, Patrick Head and Adrian Newey; Nigel Mansell, Riccardo Patrese, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Damon Hill, David Coulthard, Jacques Villeneuve, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jenson Button and Ralf Schumacher, amongst others.

After a second stint as team manager, Stanford finally stepped down from the role in 2014, having reached the conclusion that spending only 55 days in the UK during a year was probably his ‘enough’s enough’ moment. He stuck with Williams, though, taking on the position of general manager of the then newly resurrected Williams Heritage operation for superseded Grand Prix cars. And despite retiring from that job, he was persuaded