Roberts confirmed as Williams team principal, Capito becomes CEO

Williams

Roberts confirmed as Williams team principal, Capito becomes CEO

Roberts had been working in an acting position since sale of the team

Ian Parkes

Thursday 17 December 2020 12:18 Updated: 12:30

Williams has confirmed Simon Roberts as its new team principal, whilst Jost Capito has been appointed as chief executive officer.

Roberts had been working on an acting team principal capacity following the sale of the Grove-based marque to investment company Dorilton Capital and the departure of the Williams family in early September.

After overseeing the final nine grands prix of the season, Roberts' position has now been formally confirmed, with the team announcing he will be reporting into Capito.

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The 62-year-old German is primarily renowned for his success with Ford and Volkswagen in the World Rally Championship.

Speaking about the appointment, Capito said: “It’s a great honour for me to join Williams Racing during these exciting and demanding times for both the team and for Formula One.

"It is an honour to be a part of the future of this storied team, and one that carries such a poignant name in the sport, so I approach this challenge with great respect and with a huge amount of relish.”

Explaining the reasoning behind Capito's appointment, Dorilton Capital chairman Matthew Savage said: "He is an experienced and competitive individual, who has built winning teams and is a winner in his own right.

"He understands the Williams heritage and will work well with the team in pursuit of our objective to return to the front of the grid.”

Capito began his motorsport career in the mid-1970s, racing motorbikes and ending up winning the truck category of the Paris-Dakar Rally in 1985 with his father in a Mercedes Unimog.

After five years with BMW, he then joined Porsche in 1989 to manage racing programs before moving to Sauber Petronas Engineering in 1996 as part of its executive committee.

A move to Ford followed in 2001, mainly as motorsport director for Europe, working in various categories from Formula Ford up to F1 with Jordan, but notably winning two WRC manufacturers’ titles in 2006 and 2007.

In 2012, Capito joined Volkswagen as its motorsport director, enjoying a period of dominance as it won consecutive drivers’ and constructors’ championships in the WRC over four years.

Capito was then briefly CEO at McLaren before returning to Volkswagen to lead the company's performance cars department.