Williams F1 deputy team principal Claire Williams has told Autocar that recent moves to search for 'urgent' investment are part of a plan to regain competitiveness after a “perfect storm” of setbacks — on-track struggles, a split with its headline sponsor, a loss-making 2019 and the Covid-19-led disruption to the 2020 season.
The ultra-successful squad has struggled at the back of the grid in recent years, but to coincide with the unveiling of its new 2020 livery Claire Williams and CEO Mike O'Driscoll have spoken exclusively to Autocar to outline a bold turnaround plan.
After revealing a £13m loss for 2019 recently the Didcot-based team, one of the most successful in F1 history, announced an immediate review of operations and an urgent search for new investment. It said that that in the worst case this could lead to the team’s outright sale to a new owner, raising the prospect of the departure of the Williams name from F1 after more than 40 years, 114 race wins, nine constructors’ and seven drivers’ titles.
But Williams and O’Driscoll insist that, with fairer F1 regulations in prospect and the potential of new investment to take advantage of ambitious restructuring already under way, Williams has a realistic prospects of a historic revival, and even a return to the front of the grid. In the meantime the team is fully funded through the three to four months a new investor’s entry would take, and onwards through the 15 to 18 races expected to take place this season.
Rather than being the “fire sale” discussed in some quarters, the Williams management’s dramatic moves reflect its own exasperation with the years-long need to stretch every pound too far, to rely at least partly on paying drivers and a boiling impatience to return to the full-on, Frank-and-Patrick style competitiveness of the old days.
“We started talking about the need for new investment last year,” said Claire Williams, “before the virus was even on the horizon. We decided that if we were ever going to punch our weight again we needed support beyond what we could raise from the F1 prize fund or sponsorship.
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Really hope they succeed, F1
Outlines bold recovery plan?
To who did they outline a bold recovery plan?
There isn't one laid out in that article. There's a lot of what they got wrong. There's a lot of what may come in the future with rules and regulations changes. There's a lot of "ifs" contingent upon other things happening. There's "potential" for investment (isn't there always) but no substance.
James Colgate came in after Paddy Lowe was dropped after screwing up the start of their 2019 season. No doubt. But the jury ought still be out as to whether 2019 would have unfolded any differently had construction and pre-season gone well.
That was all to see in the Netflix doc. What was also for all to see is just how petulant Claire Williams can be. There's your problem, right there. They should find a new TP, she should take a step back, be the public face of the Williams team, name, and family. To do otherwise will mean the team disappearing. The team may reappear in another form, but not through sale, but collapse and someone esle picking up the pieces.
Did you get sa nice brunch though Steve?