At a time when Formula One has grappled with negativity and bad press everyday for the past two years, the one silver lining has been the revival of the Williams team which is currently third in the constructor’s standings.
The team has the second most constructor’s titles — Ferrari tops the list — with nine championships and has powered drivers to seven world titles, between the eighties until the late nineties.
When the new hybrid era started in 2014, it also kick-started a revival of sorts for the team as it once again started to make regular podium appearances and at times was the only closest car to the current pace-setter Mercedes.
But the story is not so much about the team’s revival as much as it is about the sense of excitement it raises — among fans of the team, the competitors and F1 fraternity at large — every time the team does well.
The key person who has been behind this revival is Deputy Team Principal Claire Williams, daughter of co-founder Sir Frank Williams, who now runs the team’s day-to-day operations.
Unlike some of the other big teams, Williams is not a manufacturer or supported by a big corporate entity like Red Bull. The team co-founded by Williams along with Patrick Head in 1977, continues to be run as an independent team whose raison d’etre is to just go out racing.
That it is still a family-run business is a major reason for the feel good factor towards her team, says Claire. In a chat with The Hindu, Claire said, “When I say we are a family-run business, it is not because me or Frank are there, but the atmosphere in the team is of just being normal people who go out racing and have fun.”
She adds, “One of the reason people have shown such genuine affection for us is that they identify with us. For someone like dad, who came from Newcastle with no money, to achieve what he has managed to do it is tremendous.
“For ten years we were the underdogs before we tasted success and people always love underdogs and somehow that image has struck with us. We are just normal people like them who are lucky to go out racing and we do it in a honest way with integrity.”
Karun Chandhok is one person who is close to the Williams team and often drives some of their heritage cars in events like the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
He says, “they are still like an old school race team whose only interest is to go racing and entertain fans. You can probably see it even in the media centre or in the paddock, whenever Williams are doing well there is a real sense of excitement and goodwill for them.”
The period between 2005 and 2014 saw the team hit new lows every year and it went without a win till 2012. In 2011 and 2013 the team managed to score only five points as it finished ninth.
Talking about how the turnaround happened, Claire says, “While we had talented people, we sort of missed some top level management on the technical side to guide these people. We identified that and it started with Pat Symonds our chief technical officer and we got some 10-12 people.
