Drivers surprised as Williams family leaves team
Sep.4 - Williams' two drivers admitted they were surprised to hear that they will have a new team boss within days.
Following the sale of the British team to Dorilton Capital, which has links to Prince William's brother-in-law James Matthews, it was announced on Thursday that Claire Williams and her father Sir Frank are stepping down.
"Nicholas and I found out from Claire this morning," team driver George Russell said at Monza.
"It's a sad day for us as a team, but we'll fight to represent the Williams name as best we can in the future."
Teammate Nicholas Latifi agreed: "I have to admit - I was surprised this morning.
"When it became clear that the team was going to be sold, I had in the back of my mind that something like this could happen. But I didn't expect it to happen so quickly."
The pair did not say who their new boss will be in a week's time at Mugello.
But Russell hinted that it might be someone new to Formula 1.
"I don't think F1 experience matters too much. Look at Toto Wolff at Mercedes," he said.
"He had some motorsport experience but not a huge amount in F1 and has not done too bad! So I don't think that is hugely important."
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It’s a sad day when the Williams family is not involved in F1. But it’s an even sadder time when there’s fun in watching these F1 races when everyone knows the outcome as to who will the winners will be. There has to be a way to make these boring races more exciting. Making the cars more even power wise, then you can see who has the best drivers!
A truely sad day for me and for F1. Watching this this team continuing to fight as a privateer has been the only interesting thing in the money driven era of F1. Hopefully the new rules will level the playing field. The racing has been very one sided and boring for several years now.
A said day to hear that the Williams family will no longer be involved in f1 racing.They provided so many good memories over the last forty years.All the best to them in the future. I hope F1 can start to put together more competitive races where more that one team has a chance at winning.