Williams: the last years before the sale
2020 was a very important year in many respects for Williams, both sporting and beyond: in a disappointing season for the historic Grove team, which finished the championship without any points in the Constructors’ standings, the team founded by Frank Williams was sold to the American investment company Dorilton Capital, with the sale thus ending the long F1 experience of the British family. A chapter ended both for the late Sir Frank and for his daughter Claire, who became deputy team principal in 2014.
Claire Williams’ outburst
Six years after ending her role, Claire Williams had the opportunity to vent openly in an interview given to the High Performance Racing podcast, during which she addressed all those who still insult her online with hateful messages: “The sh** comments you receive are not just sh** comments, but really nasty comments you don’t need, online – she said – people think it’s perfectly acceptable to write really nasty things. I’ve had enough. I keep getting them, and I haven’t been in the sports world for six years. Last night I got one that said: ‘Ah, yes, hi, you’re the woman who brought your father’s team down’. F*** off. What do you know? If you want to say it to my face, have the courage to do it. Don’t hide behind a keyboard and be rude to people. What have you done in life? I find it really s***ty. That’s the beauty of sport: we all try to give our best, and I find it absurd that other people, who are not in your shoes, think they have the right to express an opinion.”
Impossible to say what happens for the public
Additionally, Williams explained what the last years leading the team were like, with all the difficulties involved: “You don’t know what happens behind the scenes. For example, during the last years I managed the team, since it’s Formula 1, you can’t publicly talk about many things; you don’t talk about the contracts you have or what happens behind the scenes, you simply don’t, and the same goes for the whole paddock, but since you can’t talk about it, people don’t know what is going on behind the scenes daily. So it’s really hard, and inevitably you blame yourself more than anyone else could, and then you also have to endure all this, and at that point you say: give people a break.”
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In conclusion, Williams was clear about how much of what she experienced was public knowledge, believing that people would be ‘shocked’ if they knew the truth about what she went through personally or professionally: “People don’t even know 10% of what happened – she added – it was difficult and demanding not only in the last years, but from the beginning. I have never spoken publicly about how hard it was. These are private matters, right? I’m not going to air my dirty laundry in public. Nobody needs to know. This is one of the reasons why I haven’t written a book, because it’s like saying: no, that’s for me, for the people closest to me and for those I want to share it with. Because sometimes, being too sensitive can be harmful, and if it came out, it would be too serious.”
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