As a youngster, Willis recounted spending time sailing on the Solent, along with a keen interest in Airfix model kits.

Cambridge offered Willis the opportunity to follow on with a PhD, he declined and left to join the National Physical Laboratory.

Willis worked extensively on computational fluid dynamics at Williams, a new concept of aerodynamics and engineering in Formula One at the time.

When Newey moved to rival McLaren in 1997, Willis was promoted, alongside Gavin Fisher, to become chief aerodynamicist beneath Patrick Head.

[9] However, by late June, his role within the team became unclear when Honda appointed Shuhei Nakamoto as Senior Technical Director.

[18][19] Having been lauded by new owner José Ramón Carabante ahead of the 2011 season, Willis became increasingly vocal about the lack of finance and resources of the Spanish team, and demanded improvements.

[25][26][27][28][29] In 2022, Willis joined INEOS Britannia as Chief Technical Director, supporting the team in the Americas Cup yacht race.