Karun Chandhok says Frank Williams became obsessed with ‘very good’ F1 driver Ayrton Senna rated highly

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In the 1990s, there were few Formula 1 drivers whose opinion was held in higher regard than Ayrton Senna.

Senna made his debut in 1984, but by the time he entered his final F1 season with Williams a decade later, he was a three-time world champion and had established himself as one of the sport’s greatest drivers.

The 1994 F1 season saw two tragic events take place in one weekend at Imola, when Senna and Roland Ratzenberger were both killed.

It revolutionised safety procedures in Formula 1 and deprived the sport of two talents who should have spent many more seasons racing.

Frank Williams had waited a long time to finally work with Senna, having watched him win three titles with McLaren.

When asked about signing the Brazilian, he said, via Motorsport Magazine: “I should have signed Ayrton on the spot, but at the time we were pretty embedded in a policy of going only for experienced drivers.

“As soon as he was into F1, though, I regretted that I hadn’t taken him – it was obvious he was something very special.”

Karun Chandhok and Frank’s son Jonathan Williams were speaking on the Autosport Podcast about the team’s legacy and recalled one story about Senna from the beginning of the 1994 season.

It turns out Senna had already spotted an emerging talent on the grid and his words urged Frank Williams to take a particular interest in the driver.

Ayrton Senna lauded ‘very good’ Heinz-Harald Frentzen while talking to Frank Williams

Talking about Frank Williams’ driver signing policy, Chandhok said: “But I think it’s fair to say though, also your dad had, he sort of got this infatuation with certain drivers and certain people.

“And then it didn’t always work out because he just got it stuck in his head.

“I mean, Frentzen is a great example of that, isn’t it? Where off the back of Damon’s bad 1995, he sort of in that way, he got fixated on certain people.”

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Jonathan Williams replied: “He could latch onto things quite quickly that would develop into something that you could describe as an infatuation.

‘A big, big part of his focus on Heinz-Harald Frentzen as a Williams driver came from that 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix weekend where Heinz-Harald made his debut.

“And I think in one of the practice sessions, Ayrton came in who was having his first race weekend with us and said, ‘Who’s in that Sauber that I followed for those laps?’

“And somebody said, that’s the rookie, Frentzen. And he said, he’s very good.

“I mean, he said, that guy’s going to be good. And if Ayrton had seen it, my father was right, that’s it. You know, that guy is going to be very good.

“And then this sort of awareness of Frentzen’s exploits prior to F1 would have grown.”

Heinz-Harald Frentzen never fulfilled his Formula 1 potential

Frentzen made his F1 debut in 1994 with Sauber, scoring seven points and finishing ahead of all three of the teammates he had that year, including the experienced Andrea de Cesaris.

After three years and a single podium with the Swiss team, Williams finally got his man and brought Frentzen in to replace Damon Hill.

Hill found out he was replaced halfway through his championship-winning season, putting the pressure on the German to perform.

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Frentzen finished second to teammate Jacques Villeneuve in 1997 but that proved to be the closest he ever came to winning an F1 title.

He managed just three victories during his career, racing for Jordan, Prost and Arrows before ending his career back where it started at Sauber.

The German still keeps a close eye on what’s happening in F1 and Frentzen was left questioning Piastri as the 2024 season went on.