Frank Williams battling pneumonia in hospital

F1 legend and team founder Sir Frank Williams is in hospital battling pneumonia.

The news emerged in Mexico City, when team CEO Mike O’Driscoll made a rare appearance in front of the assembled media, in the place of deputy Claire Williams.

"Frank was taken ill at the Monza race," he revealed.

Williams, 74, is among the oldest surviving tetraplegics in the world, following his car accident in 1986.

"He’s been a fixture in the paddock for so many decades now that it’s strange not to have him with us," O’Driscoll added.

"He’s had a tough time in hospital. He has contracted pneumonia. He is making a recovery, a slow steady recovery," he said, in written comments that were subsequently added to the official FIA press conference transcript.

O’Driscoll said he hopes Claire, Williams’ daughter, is also back at the races soon.

"She has wanted to stay close to home, close to Frank, but in this modern world you are only ever a phone call away, so we stay connected and she’s part of everything that happens on a minute-by-minute, day-by-day basis," he said.

Sir Frank’s wife, Ginny Williams, died in 2003.