By the start of 1970 Williams was in partnership with the ambitious Argentine, Alessandro De Tomaso. De Tomaso had hired Italian Giampaolo Dallara to design an F2 chassis for Frank in 1969. This time, he asked Dallara to pen the first De Tomaso F1 car and gave Franks team the responsibility of running it. Although there were some good qualifying performances, the car was a disappointment. Improving the car, however, became moot as disappointment quickly turned to despair when Courage was tragically killed at the Dutch Grand Prix. This was a hammer blow, not just competitively, but also personally for Frank, for whom Courage had driven since the teams inception.