Former F1 boss admits 'beating themselves' up over trying to save team

Claire Williams with the Williams team in 2020 — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

Former F1 boss admits 'beating themselves' up over trying to save team

Sir Frank Williams was the founder of the Williams outfit, but his daughter was tasked with trying to save them after COVID

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Monday 22 June 2026 21:57

Former Williams F1 team chief Claire Williams has opened up on her pursuit to save the team following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Williams was the deputy team principal of the eponymously-named team between 2013-2020, a period of ups and downs for the Grove-based outfit.

The team claimed 15 grand prix podiums in that time, and boasted high-profile names in the sport like Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas.

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Claire Williams' father Frank Williams was the founder of the team, and continued to have the title of team principal during Claire's spell in charge, although he handed over the day-to-day running of the outfit to his daughter.

As the team's form dropped off a cliff amid financial struggles in the late 2010s, Williams resigned from her role at the end of the 2020 Italian Grand Prix weekend, making the tough decision to sell the team in order to ensure its future following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jost Capito became the CEO of the Williams team at the end of 2020, and took over team principal duties in June 2021.

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Williams opens up on sad end to time as team boss

Now, Williams has shared some extra details about that period, reiterating quite how hard she was trying to keep the team afloat and secure its future as an F1 outfit.

"You don't know what's going on behind the scenes," Williams told the Up to Speed podcast. "I mean, for example, during those last few years of my time running the team, because it's F1, because you can't talk about so much stuff publicly. You don't, go and talk about the contracts that you've got, or what's going on behind the scenes, because you just don't do it, and that's the same up and down the paddock.

"But because you can't talk about it, then people don't invariably know what you are going through behind the scenes on a day-to-day basis, so that's really hard, and you're invariably beating yourself up more than anyone else could possibly do, so and then you just have that thrown at you as well, and then it's just like give people a break."

She was then asked how people would they react if they knew the full story, having admitted that fans only know '10 per cent' of what actually went on.

"I think that probably jaws would fall to the floor," Williams continued. "I mean even not just the last few years but from the very start, how difficult and how challenging it was.

"I've never really been that public, and talked about how hard it was. It's private stuff, isn't it? And I'm not going to go and air my dirty laundry in public.

"No one needs to know about it, and that's one of the reasons I haven't done a book, because that's for me, and it's for my nearest and dearest, and people that I care to share it with, because there's something - sometimes too much is too sensitive. If it did come out it would be too damaging."

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