In a candid reflection, Claire Williams opened up about the financial struggles that ultimately led to the sale of the Williams Formula 1 team, a heartbreaking chapter in one of motorsport’s most storied legacies.
The Williams F1 team, founded by her legendary father, Sir Frank Williams, was a dominant force throughout the 1980s and ’90s, but the 21st century saw the team slowly fade from its former glory. By 2020, a combination of financial setbacks and the unexpected challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic left the team on the brink of collapse.
“We just ran out of money, not to put too fine a point on it,” Claire Williams said in a revealing interview on the Business of Sport YouTube channel.
Williams entered the 2020 season with telecoms company ROKiT as their title sponsor. But disaster struck when ROKiT pulled out of the deal, leaving a financial black hole that proved too difficult to overcome. Williams took legal action and won the case, but ROKiT still owes the team over £30 million—an amount that would have helped keep the team afloat.
“When you lose a title sponsor and they’re not paying, that’s a massive hit. We took them to court and won, but that didn’t stop the financial hole from growing,” Williams recalled.
Though they managed to start the season after securing temporary financial support, the COVID pandemic delayed the racing calendar, which further deepened the team’s financial woes.
“We didn’t go racing until July, and when you don’t race, you don’t get money. That was the final nail in our coffin,” Williams explained, detailing how the lockdowns and delayed start to the season exacerbated an already dire situation.
Ultimately, in August 2020, the Williams family sold the team to American investment firm Dorilton Capital, marking the end of their direct involvement in Formula 1 after more than four decades. Claire Williams described the decision to sell as one of pure necessity, not desire.
“I will live with the heartbreak of losing it every single day. It wasn’t a decision we made because we wanted out of Formula 1. We wanted to stay—it was our life,” she said, adding that she had hoped to pass the team down to future generations.
While she expressed gratitude that Dorilton has maintained the team’s legacy and treated its employees with respect, Williams admitted she regrets not holding onto a small stake in the team, lamenting, “I’m quite gutted I didn’t say, ‘We’ll keep five per cent.’”
Despite the painful decision, Claire Williams remains proud of the team’s heritage and optimistic about its future, even if it is now in different hands. “We were fortunate to find the right people who would care for the team, protect its legacy, and take care of the people who were our family.”
