Claire Williams to Walk Away from F1?

Williams F1 deputy principal, Claire Williams, has admitted that she has not entirely dismissed the thought of retiring from the paddock and giving the reins of the team to someone else.

“Of course I think about walking away,” she told The Sun. “I question whether I’m the right person to be doing this job. If anyone in Williams says to my face that I was damaging the team, then I would go.”

“Until then, I have much more I can do and I won’t give up.”

The team, which bears the name of her father, Sir Frank Williams, has had a terrible time this year, having to face the ignominy of being last in the F1 constructors’ championships.

To add to that, their race pace is not something which evokes confidence, with both their cars consistently found to be the slowest at every circuit. The fact that both their drivers are essentially F1 rookies does not help.

Lance Stroll, who is in his second season, has scored the only points for the team and has managed to climb out of Q1 only once. His teammate, Sergey Sirotkin, has failed to score any points and has also climbed out of Q1 only once.

Claire was put in charge by her father some years back and she revealed that he has been a very supportive figure. “He was very philosophical and said ‘Claire, we’ve had shitty times before and got through it. You have to keep pushing',“ she said.

Despite the rut that they find themselves in, there is some good news; they could be a ‘B’ team for Mercedes, something that was successful for Sauber with Ferrari.

However, Claire has dismissed those claims, preferring to go with the word ‘exploring options’. “We would never be anyone’s B team,” she declared.

“But the collaborations we see now, we have to explore those. We don’t want to be dinosaurs — the once-giant of formula one who refused to change and adapt.”