Frank Dernie - the Car is the Star

Frank Dernie spent 33 years in Formula One with Hesketh, Williams, Benetton, Ligier, Arrows and Toyota in leading engineering positions.
He was behind some of the key innovations particularly during his time with Williams, e.g. optimising aerodynamics in a wind tunnel, active suspension or the use of CFD.
In this extensive portrait Frank talks about his time and experiences in racing covering his key innovations, how Formula One was during its most creative period, working with Patrick Head, hiring Paddy Lowe, creating the dominating Williams active car and why Benetton did not cheat during the 1994 season and what made Brawn GP really win the 2009 championship.

[@timakimat]

This has to be one of the best F1 interviews I’ve ever seen.

[@andrewmackey8119]

I built Lola jigs and chassis for twenty five years saw Frank and Adrian there. Great to hear some of Frank's excellent knowledge of F1.

[@michaelpashut1696]

Frank Dernie there is no one in F1 History I respect more than you. I consider myself the biggest Nelson Piquet fan ever and you have always shown the man the greatest respect. Thank you sir, you are a legend and in my opinion you are the reason Piquet was able to carry of the title in 87.... The Lotus 101 was a great car with a Duff engine. Love you in Williams the movie and your Podcast with Nigel Roebuck(no respect for him)

[@Jimmy_Broadbent]

Great to see another upload Mario. Always love these interviews :)

[@mariomuth]

Thank you Jimmy

[@nonnufan]

As I love both Jimmy and Mario's stuff, thanks to you both! But extra thanks to Mario for yet another brilliant F1 piece. Can't wait for the next one!

[@mark4lev]

Great to see frank getting the recognition he deserved and never got back in the day. No doubt about it without him Williams would have faded into obscurity.

[@ernestomartinez4090]

This man Frank Dernie is a genius. Period.

[@TheMach05]

This series of interviews have set a new standard for KZbin, every one has been brilliant. Keep up the good work.

[@sackvillebag]

This is Gold. Thank you Mario keep the interviews coming.

[@davidorama6690]

The double diffuser story is golden.

[@eddiejones4001]

Only just found these interviews today and they are fantastic! The fact the interviewer doesn't include his questions and edits it so it's just the interviewee talking is a breath of fresh air! Definitely subbed:)

[@waynemanna1402]

Fascinating and very enjoyable. I have always been more interested in the technical side of motor racing than the racing per se, so it is just great to hear from people like Frank Dernie and hear them explain their ideas, successes, failures; what happened "behind the scenes" and different takes on things (like Benetton and traction control) that seem to be settled. That Frank speaks so well means he can communicate succinctly and get a lot across in an hour.

[@elnino7822]

Love this style of interview. If possible, I'd love if you could get Montoya. That would be quite interesting I think

[@annonom1058]

This is gold Frank is an amazing story teller

[@seansmith4833]

Love hearing from Dernie. He’s the only Motorsport podcast I’ve listened to more than once. Also, who can forget his scenes about Nigel from the Williams doc. 😅

[@1963sherry]

Thank you Frank really enjoyed your views and insight.

[@RussellTurner]

Bloody LOVED this. ❤

[@cf6282]

Very interesting interview. Clever guy came into the sport when so many new things were invented. Building your own windtunnel and doing the instrumentation is staggering to me. The team that builds the best car will win of course given a talented driver.

[@66PHILB]

In this case, Frank is the star. I got into F1 in 1981 as a Williams fan so Frank Dernie is a hero to me. What a lucid, down-to-earth & engaging man he is. The fact that he loved working with drivers like Alan Jones and Juan Pablo Montoya helps too!

[@paulconnelly4050]

This man is an absolute genius. F1 is what it is because of people like Frank Dernie.

[@sardengineering]

Extremely appreciative for this absolute treasure, thank you, thank you, thank you 🙏🏼💯❤️

[@jonelson1983]

Superb.....great insights and views.

[@lilPOPjim]

No way! I've worked on the Hesketh 308E which he designed. That's amazing.

[@kdm6287]

Great interview. Frank is always great to hear. Thanks

[@Mr037rally]

Thank you, Mario, for this interview, always love to hear Frank Dernie interviews and the length of this is a gem.

[@DuxDrive]

Brilliant stuff! Loved to hear from someone one the inside who knows lot more about Bennetton and weather or not they used traction control, all the outwash concept ideas today Ferrari went on with and how that backfired on them but in the end turned out probably the right ones too, and speaking of which how it were probably main performance gainers in the days when everyone was concentrated on the double diffusers. Great stuff! On to the next video!

[@nnoddy8161]

Just brilliant.

[@metalillness5951]

That was an awesome story to hear. What an excellent speaker and humble man, it's no wonder he was so successful. Thank you for this video!

[@mark4lev]

Amazing man. No ego or anything like that. Superb

[@blackflagqwerty]

Absolutely riveting stuff, watched start to finish.

[@anime5h_m1shr4]

Absolutely brilliant stuff. This an absolute goldmine for budding engineers. Thank you so much for the upload!! Greetings from India!! :)

[@ajaymantha4713]

Thanks!

[@MikeCaffyn1]

Once again - a brilliant and welcome insight. I just feel like I'm there sitting down with Frank himself.

[@blacktoothfox677]

this is wonderful... Wish I'd found this excellent channel sooner! - happily subbed from UK

[@syedammar6637]

Really good video. Till now I thought double diffuser was the decisive factor in car performance in 2009. And didn’t know that the out wash front wing which is the major part of car design now was started in 2009

[@marcush.1901]

It does help to be mentally "special" to succeed in such an environment , I guess people like Barnard , Newey , Brawn all have a mind ,fitting to some pathologic diagnosis . I really enjoyed watching this ,a great personality .Many thanks for sharing the Insight and memories.

[@thisismyhandle999]

I'm so happy you uploaded again. Your interviews are great and I can't have enough of them. Please keep up the good work!

[@jerryncf1553]

A great video of an underrated genius of Formula 1. Thanks Mario.

[@KeriBeal]

Thanks Mario. Yet another fantastic insight!

[@michaellorenson2997]

Love the way these are done, now an enthusiastic new subscriber!

[@philippruest5577]

Fantastic insights.

[@carlosmaldonado8600]

Thanks for sharing!

[@richardaston4752]

That was so interesting, great guy plus he's an audiophile and plays vinyl. Brilliant insight fabulous!

[@barryhallam1628]

As someone whose interest in F1 goes way back to my late teens in the mid 1950's, I can appreciate what Frank Dernie talks about. I share his opinion on the hideous state of F1 today, particularly the over engineered cars, and in my own opinion, the tracks. In the 1970's, I regularly went to Oulton Park and Mallory Park, and frequently saw future F1 drivers such as Alan Jones, James Hunt, Ian Ashley,and Tiff Needel, driving in formulas such as Formula Ford, F3, and a short lived formula known as Indilantic. Then in 1976, I went to my first F1 race at Brands Hatch standing trackside at Woodcote when it was just a fast right hander. It was the controversial (re-started)race due to the big crash on the first lap first corner that put James Hunt onto two wheels. But what I got from standing at that particular spot, was each lap waiting to see which - Hunt or Lauda, would be first through the bridge a hundred or so metres prior to Woodcote. All I ever saw was a combined blur of the two cars as they passed in the blink of an eye. I had to listen for the on track commentary to know which car had been in front. And my point, is that those 1970's F1 cars with their elementary fixed (plank style) front wings and high air boxes, were as fast as was/is ever needed in F1. I cannot fathom why an F1 car now needs to be so ridiculously over engineered, so long, and so ornamented with multi-layered front wings, winglets and barge boards, just to be half second faster than Lauda, Hunt, Watson, Schechter, et al. were that day in 1976. Apart from the sheer thrill of being there, and cheering each car on the parade lap. I saw absolutely nothing of the race cars in the race itself, but my ears were still ringing as I drove back to London. Throughout the race, there wasn't a cat's whisker between Hunt and Lauda ... so they passed my view doing a mere 180mph. Slow by today's cars, but still a blur, and they were braking, changing gears manually, and no driver aids whatsoever ever.

[@pknivett]

That was brilliant. Thank you very much, one of the best interviews I have seen in a long time.

[@mariomuth]

Thank you!

[@davidorama6690]

Fascinating. It’s the car. And it’s the driver. But always trust the engineers to tell the truth.

[@svboypt]

Great enginnering pratical mind ....respect

[@PMcKay00]

Great video. Great guest, given space to talk freely.

[@mlpimenta73]

Excellent testimony! Thanks for sharing

[@rubybitch6195]

absolutely brilliant insight, thank you

[@pedroferrari1]

Great one

[@simracer1256]

Love these motorsport videos @mario muth. Please post some more! (and thanks for including the bit where Frank talks about having ASD)

[@0Harriz0]

Perfect podcast listening to while working on project cars

[@Dmbishop70]

Fabulous film. Can't wait to see who's going to be next?

[@kieran8881]

what a legend.

[@channelrafy]

LEGEND

[@kiwidave72]

Awesome video

[@jonnyspa27]

Great insights from Frank!

[@SachiGortchi]

MEGA-SUPER-STORYTELLING ! ! !

[@kdm6287]

Frank needs to do a book.

[@gdogg3710]

Really interested to hear Frank’s views on the Senna accidental and the involvement of the flat under tray and active suspension. Seems as though that masked the fact that through the late 80’s/early 90’s that the cars had simply got too fast for that design of car...if you think back now, there were some absolutely massive shunts during the period in which active suspension was taking over, but not yet on all the cars...Streiff, Comas, Donnelly and Zinardi being the ones that leap to mind, but there were others...

[@mark4lev]

Exactly right as you describe

[@Platesmasher]

I watched a video of Frank Dernie explaining how the front wing end-plate works on the “86 Williams. A simple concept turned into engineer talk. Couldn’t understand what he was on about 😂.

[@DuncanCunningham]

Maybe it's just geek in me but I loved the details about "we put on really soft springs on the Williams for the 2004 Italian GP and it made the car faster" and also the story about front wing outwash too.. i would just love to hear more about.. the engineering part of F1.. how the cars felt for the drivers.. why it was faster.. grip under braking.. grip under traction out of slow corners.. etc. I'd love to hear which cars the driver liked and why.. not just "yeah, it was faster" but "it was great under corner entry, strong in fast corners esp at such and such a corner" we generally don't get details we just get wishy washy stuff.. Mario is asking the right questions to get these answers. No1 interviewer in F1

[@gearsau]

Great podcast.. Back when F1 was interesting. Keep up the great work

[@scottb791]

Great work. Great channel. And a new subscriber. Love also the dashboard shot on your channel page, but can't work out what it is - Healey or AC Ace ?

[@philippruest5577]

The grande costruttore won the constructors' title 82 and 83, so before and after the flat bottom regulation got introduced - admittedly more for the engine than the aero.

[@66PHILB]

I disagree. The Ferrari 126C2 & Renault RE30B were excellent chassis. Ironically, in '82 Renault were let down by their engine, specifically their electronic fuel injection pump. Had they been a small dedicated racing team, they would have fixed it in weeks. As for Ferrari, Harvey Postlethwaite mated an up-to-date ground effect honeycomb chassis to Ferrari's fantastic engine and the results flowed. Both Gilles & Didier had what were simply motor racing accidents with tragic consequences. In '83 their engines took centre stage in slightly changed chassis and fought out a tight championship until BMW took a leap forward with toluene based "rocket" fuel and Braam dominated the last 3 races of the season.

[@zacharyradford5552]

Finally someone who gets it that in F1 the car is the real star.

[@ADxWales81]

Excellent busting of a few myths in one video.

[@andrewrcmadwilkinson6999]

A LANCASHIRE LAD WELL DONE FRANK 😇

[@mihailsnesterovics4626]

Mansell dislikes this video

[@Iheartdovecameron]

Why?

[@mark4lev]

Quite an honest comment about Patrick head at 42:44. A man totally out of his depth. The only times Williams had consistent success was when frank dernie and Adrian newey were onboard. Losing newey cost Williams billions of dollars and championships. Imagine Williams now instead of red bull.

[@Fifou001]

ask this man to answer for what happend to senna

[@kekepiket9153]

He was not working for Williams at the time of the accident , you twat.

[@robertwhitten265]

So Flavio and Schumacher had means to cheat but didn't? Yeah OK buddy.

[@SDMotorsports]

Senna’s death had nothing to do with dynamics. His steering broke, stop this embarrassment of a story

[@TomasNolanmossynolanmusic]

What a dude

[@1963sherry]

Thank you Frank really enjoyed your views and insight.