Claire Williams described the family’s time in Formula 1 as a “huge privilege” after taking the helm for the last time at the Italian Grand Prix.
Last week, it was confirmed the race at Monza would mark the end of an era for the historic team as the Williams family would depart F1 after 43 years, this following selling the team to Dorilton Capital at the end of last month.
Unfortunately, the result reflected the positions Williams has been in, in recent years, with Nicholas Latifi 11th and George Russell 14th.
But that didn’t dampen the mood as the daughter of team founder Sir Frank Williams looked back on a remarkable journey.
“It has been my greatest privilege and my biggest honour to work with everybody in our incredible team,” she said.
“But more importantly from Frank, myself and everybody in the Williams family, I would like to thank all of our team, past and present, for everything they have given to us over the years.
“They are the true warriors of this team and we wish them all the success in the world for the future.
“We would also like to thank all of our fans around the world who have supported us through thick and thin for so many years. You have humbled us.
“Our time in this sport has been a huge privilege, we leave with so many memories, we have been through highs and lows, triumph and adversity and will forever love Formula One.”
The Williams family leave a legacy of building the second most successful team in F1 history with nine Constructors’ titles, seven Drivers’ titles and 114 wins.
And speaking to Sky Sports earlier in the weekend, Claire revealed Dorilton had asked her to continue running the day-to-day operations of the team, but then explained why now was the right time to move on.
“I took a long time to think about what it would feel like to have new owners, if we did fully sell Williams, and what that would feel like for me,” she said.
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“I love this team, I’ve always loved this team, and I want to see it do well, but I think anyone, I hope, could understand that for me working for somebody else would be potentially enormously difficult. I’ve run this team as my team as seven years.
“You put blood, sweat and tears into something like I have for the time that I have, made the sacrifices doing what I’ve done. This is a hard, hard business. I’ve given it my all and I’ve done that because I’ve wanted to protect my family’s legacy in this sport.
“I’ve done it because I’m my dad’s daughter and I felt it was my duty to do it, so to speak.
“Now that it’s not ours I don’t feel that I could put the same amount of energy into it,” Williams added.
“The past few years have been incredibly tough. They have taken an awful lot out of me and, if I’m honest, I think that probably Dorilton needs somebody that has more energy than I’ve currently got, somebody that is going to put in more than I can currently give it to take it forward.
“They’re going to put as much as they can into it and they’re going to want somebody that can take that and really drive it forward. I don’t think I am that person.”
