Britain honours Williams technical guru Patrick Head with knighthood

Patrick Head, who was the design and technical guru behind the success of Williams for over 30 years, has been knighted by the Queen. He joins other motorsport greats on the list of racing knights; Stirling Moss, Jackie Stewart, Frank Williams.

Williams won nine constructors' championships on Head's watch as well as drivers titles for Alan Jones, Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet, Keke Rosberg, Alain Prost, Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve.

The news is very positive for the sport and particularly the men behind the scenes, showing that the powers that be in the UK still look favourably on achievement in this arena and it indicates that the two other great achievers Ross Brawn and Adrian Newey will not be far behind Head in collecting a gong.

Both were mentored by Head at Williams early in their careers and went on to achieve similar levels of success and have also done so with multiple different teams.

There will also be many within the sport who question why John Surtees remains unrecognised; the only man to win the world championship on both two and four wheels.

Lewis Hamilton will also fancy his chances of collecting a knighthood at some point if he clinches a third world title later this year. As an achievement that would stack up alongside what athletes like Kelly Holmes and Chris Hoy achieved in Olympic competition.

Meanwhile Ron Dennis will likely feel a certain degree of anguish that Williams has picked up a second sporting knighthood, while his claims continue to go unrecognised; he has a CBE, but his McLaren team claimed 10 world drivers' and seven constructors' titles and the company has regularly won business and export awards.