Patrick Head was born on 5 June 1946 in Farnborough, Hampshire in England. He is married, has two children and lives with his family in London.

His favourite leisure pursuits are sailing and riding motorbikes. The French Grand Prix in Magny-Cours is usually the occasion for a biking tour with friends.

Patrick gained an early interest in motor racing from his father's racing career, principally in Jaguar sports cars in the 1950s. After graduating with a mechanical engineering degree from University College, London, Patrick raced karts and competed in some rallies before realising that his talents were not being put to good use behind the wheel.

From early 1970, Patrick worked for Lola Cars alongside John Barnard on a variety of machines including Indy, CanAm and two-litre sports cars. Following this Patrick assisted Ron Tauranac at Trojan, designing Formula 5000 and Formula One cars.

He teamed up Frank Williams in 1975 and, after a season with Walter Wolf Racing, the duo set up Williams Grand Prix Engineering in March 1977.

The first Patrick Head-designed Formula One car, the FW06, appeared in 1978. A year later his designs were winning Grands Prix and two years after that, won both the Driver and Constructor World Championship for the first time