© Williams

Alex Burns’ first contact with motorsport came at Wimbledon Stadium in London, where banger racing was an occasional weekend diversion. But he cut his engineering teeth in aerospace, where he worked on a variety of civil, military and space projects.

Burns joined Westland Helicopters from school on an undergraduate training scheme and then joined Meggitt Aerospace in 1989. He remained at the aerospace engineering company for eight years as quality manager and then engineering director. He moved to Meggit Mobrey as project director, heading up a company-wide improvement project.

It was around this time that Burns received a phone call from a headhunter, who wondered if he might be interested in working for what was described as a ‘rapid prototyping business’, namely Williams. He didn’t get the job, but he was impressed and intrigued by what he had seen and the experience served to stoke his interest in F1.

Burns gained an MBA from Cranfield University and then returned to Meggitt, where he was promoted to managing director of Meggitt Electrical Components, working in the automotive and medical industries.

In 2002 a job with Williams became available again and Burns joined the team as general manager. Three years later he became chief operating officer and continued in this role until he was appointed chief executive officer of Williams in 2010.