Claire Williams said selling the family’s Formula One team is a grief that has been difficult to come to terms with, admitting it has felt like someone cut her heart out and never gave it back.
Claire, 47, has been an F1 outsider for coming up to three years following the sale of the team founded by her father Sir Frank Williams to American investment firm Dorilton Capital for £136million.
She resigned as de facto boss at the 2020 Italian Grand Prix, while Frank – who extraordinarily took his motor racing team from an empty carpet warehouse to the summit of the sport – died a year later.
“When I left in Monza it felt like someone cut my heart out and it has never been returned,” said Claire, in an interview with the PA news agency ahead of Williams’ 800th race at this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
“You just have to find something to put in its place. But it was very difficult then and three years on, it is still really hard.
“It is just one of those griefs that is really difficult to get over, or to come to terms with. Now we have lost Dad, it sometimes feels as though it was just a dream. Did that period in our lives really happen?”
Sir Frank oversaw 114 victories, 16 drivers’ and constructors’ world championships and became the longest-serving team boss in the sport’s history.
His story is made all the more remarkable by a horrific car crash which left him with injuries so devastating doctors considered turning off his life-support machine.
Until his death in 2021, he was recognised as the world’s oldest surviving tetraplegic.
Frank, who lived at the team headquarters in Grove, Oxfordshire, handed over the managerial baton to daughter Claire in 2013.
She guided the team to a brilliant third in the constructors’ championship, behind the financial muscle of Mercedes and Ferrari over the following two years, before a lack of major investment contributed to Williams’ decline. A decade has passed since a Williams driver last won a race.
“There was so much that went on in those last few years, which to this day I will never be able to talk about,” continues Claire.
“But I saw the team through three very difficult seasons and I was able to hand over something that was still living and still breathing to someone with deeper pockets than us. We kept everyone in jobs, we didn’t go into administration and I am very proud of that.
“When I have challenging circumstances I bury my head in jobs and when we sold Williams, my next concern was, where did Dad go?
“As much as Dorilton were kind enough to say he could always live at the factory, I needed him close to me. And coincidentally the house next door to us came up for sale, so we moved Dad in.
“I managed his care team. I made sure he was happy and comfortable in his new home and we went off and did some nice stuff together. He would pick up my little one, Nate, from nursery.
“But then he got sicker, greater care was required to look after him and he passed away. But for the next six months, we organised this wonderful memorial service. We then decided to move house, renovating our old house in Ascot and our new home in South Downs.
“So, I am the master of distraction. Life carries on. And as much as I miss Williams, and I miss Formula One dreadfully, there is a whole other world out there. You have to go and find happy elsewhere. That is what I have done.”
However, Claire discovered her zen state is disrupted by watching the sport she loves.
She will not tune in on Sunday to see Alex Albon and rookie Logan Sargeant scramble for a point or two under the tutelage of new team principal James Vowles – an appointment Claire said her father would have approved of – in Williams’ landmark race.
“I turned on the TV to see Alex had scored a point in Australia earlier this year,” she continued with a broad smile.
“Ted’s Notebook was on and Ted [Kravitz] grabbed James and said, ‘mate, congratulations, you are only Williams’ third team principal and you have got a point. How does it feel?’
“And I was like, third team principal? That is Frank, that is Jost [Capito] and that is James, what about me? Ted has just cancelled me on national television!
“I may not have been called team principal but I operated that way and I have literally just been erased. I turned it straight off and vowed never to watch again.
“But I tried watching the last race at Silverstone. I thought to myself, ‘Right, I am going to do this. Come on’. But I watched the formation lap and that was that. I lasted five minutes.
“I don’t know what it is, but if you talk to any person who has worked, lived and breathed Formula One – no matter if that is for 20 years or 20 minutes – it does something to you. It absorbs you, and when you leave, particularly involuntary like I did, it is very difficult to watch it and not feel that loss.”
Claire dovetails speaking engagements and “top-secret television projects” with her role as brand ambassador for Williams Advanced Engineering.
Earlier this year, she launched the Frank Williams Academy in her father’s honour. The project aims to raise £1.5m to help educate and train those affected by spinal cord injuries. She also revealed Sky offered her the chance to return to the F1 paddock as a pundit.
“It was too soon,” said Claire. “It is better when you leave, you leave.
“Unless someone said to me, ‘Come back and be a team principal and you can have Williams back’, I don’t necessarily think there is a job I would want, but never say never.”
'Like driving on ice' - Verstappen and Red Bull struggle in Vegas practice
Max Verstappen claimed that his Red Bull felt like "driving on ice" after struggling in Friday practice ahead of his potential coronation at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Verstappen entered the weekend hoping to leave with a fourth world title, but a fifth and 17th place finish in the opening practice sessions suggested it would be far from easy.
The Dutchman posted a soft-tyre lap just before Alex Albon caused a red flag midway through the second session, with Verstappen unable to improve on his time after that.
It left him two seconds off the pace set by the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, revealing that the cold temperatures had an effect on his tyres.
"For me, it feels massively tyre-related. The balance of the car is not even wrong, I think," he said. "We just have no grip, like driving on ice at the moment."
“Yeah, [it was] slippery. I think we struggled a lot with making the tyres work, over one lap especially.
“The long run I think started off a bit more competitive, but even there I think we need to fine-tune a few things. The one-lap pace is quite far off.
“It’s quite unique conditions around here, and it’s very cold, but at the end of the day it’s the same for everyone, so we need to try and understand what we’re doing wrong."
Red Bull were down in the speed traps and Helmut Marko revealed the team had the wrong rear wing which has put them on the back foot.
However, after topping the timesheets in both practice sessions, Hamilton was left mystified by Mercedes’ surprisingly strong pace after a poor showing in Interlagos last time out.
The seven-time world champion clocked the fastest lap of the day as drivers up and down the grid struggled to extract performance around the low-grip track.
His team-mate George Russell was similarly impressive, finishing in P2 and P3 across the two sessions to indicate that Mercedes are the team to beat this weekend.
“I mean that’s the first time I’ve had a day like that this year. The car was feeling generally good in FP1, in FP2 less so," Hamilton said.
“Difficult to know exactly where we are or why we are where we are but really enjoying driving the track and I think we’ll see whether the car is the same tomorrow.
“The race pace is not that great so the work we have to do overnight is to figure out how to have better race pace without losing actual pace throughout the lap.
"But it was nice to get like consecutive sectors, and the car not throwing me off which was nice."
Piastri aiming for win in Las Vegas with Norris title chances looking slim
McLaren driver Oscar Piastri is targeting victory in Las Vegas on Sunday following the implosion of team-mate Lando Norris' Championship bid.
While it is still mathematically possible that Norris could catch Max Verstappen – who will secure a fourth successive title by bettering the Brit this weekend – his chances are slim.
As a result of Norris' title bid, Piastri had been under orders to prioritise his team-mate above himself. But with McLaren leading Ferrari in the constructors' championship by 36 points, it is likely focus will shift there.
"There's still some, let's say, very specific scenarios where I might be needed to help out. But for the very large majority of situations, it's back to how it was," Piastri told reporters in Las Vegas.
"The drivers' championship picture is very slim, and the constructors' championship is certainly not over for us.
"So, it's a very specific few scenarios that maybe I'll still help out if that's what I'm asked to do, but I'm going into the weekend trying to win."
Ahead of his potential coronation, Verstappen struggled on the first day of practice in Las Vegas, finishing in 17th.
Norris, meanwhile, was second-fastest behind Lewis Hamilton. Piastri finished in eighth, although bizarrely reported that his car would not turn off after reaching the pit lane, although the issue was eventually resolved.
Separately from Piastri, Norris had told reporters that – despite previous orders for Piastri to let him pass in races – the team had always come first and that would not change.
"Everything we've done, we've just swapped a position," he said.
"It benefited me because I was in the fight for the championship and that's the game we also have to play, just as I've helped Oscar in a few occasions and helped him win in Baku, you know. I did my job there.
"I think Andrea [Stella] made it very clear from the beginning that we would never do something that would make the team result worse. So no, nothing is going to change."
Norris believes he has 'what it takes’ for future world title after Verstappen battle
Lando Norris believes he has what it takes to challenge for a world title in the future after his battle with Max Verstappen during the 2024 season.
Norris arrives at the Las Vegas Grand Prix this weekend 62 points behind Verstappen, knowing a win is a must if he is to keep his faint world championship hopes alive.
Verstappen and Red Bull started the campaign as they left off last year, only for Norris and McLaren to emerge as genuine contenders after a series of car developments.
On a dramatic weekend in Brazil, Norris reduced the Dutchman's advantage to 44 points by winning in the Sprint race, but that victory proved to be in vain.
Despite starting 17th on the grid, Verstappen regained his sizeable margin with a stunning wet weather performance, and can clinch a fourth world title in Sin City this weekend.
When asked what he had learned from this season, Norris said: “That I have what it takes. It’s the first time in the last six years of F1 that we’ve had a chance to fight at the front.
"This is our, and my, first opportunity to do so, and my first opportunity to see where I stand.
“I definitely was not at the level I needed to be at the beginning of the year, even [after beating Verstappen to a maiden win] in Miami.
"Since the summer break I feel like I’ve done a very good job and performed very, very well – by far some of my best performances that I’ve done.
“I’ve been very happy with how the last few months have gone, honestly. I wouldn’t change many things that have happened.
"I still need to make tweaks and I still need to improve on things, that’s clear. I’m not completely satisfied with how I’ve done and I definitely know I need to make improvements.
“But, for the first time, I’m confident to say I have what I think I need to fight for a championship. It doesn’t mean I’m complete, it doesn’t mean I’m perfect.
"When you’re competing against drivers who are close to that, like Max, you have to be close to perfect if you want to challenge him.”
Despite Norris' disappointment, this weekend marks an opportunity for McLaren to edge closer to a first constructors' championship since 1998.
The British-based team are currently 36 points ahead of Ferrari at the top of the standings with two races and a sprint remaining this season.
McLaren have 19 podiums in 2024, their best record in a campaign since 2007 (24). In only four years have they achieved more (20 in 1998, 22 in 2000, 24 in 2007 and 25 in 1988), though Norris insisted the battle was far from over.
“Ferrari have been strong for a long time,” said Norris. “They have two very good drivers, they’re a very good team, they’ve clearly improved their car a good amount and found a better direction to head down.
“They probably will be with us. Some races are a bit better, some races a little bit behind, some races the same as a competition. Maybe [the momentum is] a little bit with them, but we’re close. Red Bull are close at the same time.
“It’s more about who can do a better performance on a weekend. We do know that Vegas is probably a track that will suit the Ferraris a bit more.
"It suited them well last year, but we know Qatar will be more favourable to us.”
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