Frank Williams Academy established in honour of legendary F1 team boss

Claire Williams has launched a new charity initiative in memory of her father. The Frank Williams Academy, run by the Spinal Injuries Association, was established to support people with spinal cord injuries and healthcare professionals in that field.

The Spinal Injuries Association (SIA) has been Williams' official charity since 2015. Vice President Claire Williams, who managed the eponymous Formula 1 team from 2013 to 2020, is spearheading a fundraising drive for the new initiative. The aim is to raise one and a half million pounds to launch and establish the Academy in its early years.

For Claire, it represents the ultimate tribute to her father, the legendary Sir Frank Williams, who passed away on 28 November 2021. The founder of the iconic F1 team suffered a spinal cord injury in a car accident in 1986 and had been confined to a wheelchair ever since. "My father lived the most extraordinary life, not least as one of the most successful team principals in the history of the sport and doing so from a wheelchair as a tetraplegic for the greater part of it," she is quoted by Williams' official website.

"His tenacity in the face of this adversity was just one of the many things that made him such an inspiration to many while he was alive," the 46-year-old Brit continued. "Following his death, I wanted to do something to continue that legacy, and the Frank Williams Academy couldn't be a more fitting tribute. The work that the Academy will do will provide potentially life-changing care for spinal cord injured people, just as the SIA did for my dad. With that support, the bounds of possibility are endless."