Has to be a Williams Racing 2.0

In just a few weeks Jost Capito will take up his position at Williams Racing of CEO. With the arrival of the new team owners the process of securing a replacement for Frank and Claire Williams was carried out and it would be Jost whose name would be announced as the new CEO.

For Williams with such an incredible history in terms of their achievements including nine constructors championships and seven drivers’ titles, their recent history has seen Williams become a team where success in any form has been very rare. In the past three seasons they have finished last in the constructors championship. The last season would see the team finish the season without scoring a single point and in 2019 there was only a single point.

But with the sale of the team to Dorilton Capital in late 2020 the Williams team has started the process of rebuilding and putting those things necessary to see them recover from their poor recent history. Not only has this included the announcement of a new CEO but also increased investment in areas within the company included the updating of equipment at the factory.

In addition to these two major achievements the team has also put in place further staff changes the most notable been the appointment of Simon Roberts into the role of Team Principal.

But as for Capito his recent employment with Volkswagen, between 2013 and 2015, and then a time with McLaren has seen him develop a reputation of been an effective manager who can hopefully turn the fortunes of the Williams team around. But even he is realistic enough to know that this will take time. 2020 had seen the team make the first steps of reversing the downward trend but there is far more to achieve under Capito's leadership.

In a recent interview with Motorsport-total.com Capito spoke of how he views the season ahead. He made it very clear that he did not feel that major steps will be made in 2021 as essentially the 2021 car is the same as the 2020 model but with the required modifications regarding areas such as various aero dynamic devices including the floor. But he is honest enough to even see 2021 as been another season where the the team will face another difficult season.

Capito said: “With the new beginning, also with the new owners, you now have the opportunity to restructure and streamline again.”

“This is important because fewer than zero points is not possible! It can only be better.

“But no matter what changes you make, it always goes down first. Then it has to go up. That means for this year, no miracles are to be expected because you can only change very little on the car.”

As for when he feels that the team can make significant steps forward he does look towards 2022 where there will be significant changes in terms of the regulations. The fact that these changes have been delayed into 2022 has certainly been an advantage of the Williams team with their limited resources. It will simply give them more time to cope with the demands of running a team under the pressures of the Covid pandemic as well as planning and designing and manufacturing for the 2022 season.

Capito added: “You have to look at it from the aspect of the pandemic. The small teams would have fallen even further because the large teams and the works teams can deal with COVID much better than a smaller team.

“That means the gap would actually have become even bigger. I don't think we should be whining about that now.”

Capito recalls: "You didn't know how many races you could run, how much money would come in, how much money would come in from the broadcasters, which Formula One can then pay out to the teams. There was so much risk that it was absolutely right to postpone the regulations by one year."

The freeze for 2021 in the continued presence of the Covid pandemic is also the right decision.

Capito said: 'I think that's absolutely right, even if it might not seem opportune from Williams' point of view. But I think if that hadn't happened, the distance would have been much greater."

Capito also spoke of the commitment to keeping with the traditions of Williams Racing. "We will clearly keep the story with Williams. We stand by it, it's great," he says "Only there has to be 'Williams 2.0' now, where Williams continues to have a leadership role in Formula One."

As for his role Capito added: "But I don't have the responsibility on the ground. I have responsibility for the whole team, but not for when which car goes out or what settings are made. There's a team leader for that."

So we have the arrival of Jost Capito which can only be viewed as a large part of the puzzle that is the process of seeing Williams racing recover. Hopefully he will be able to bring the team together and achieve the desired outcome of again seeing Williams Racing as a force in Formula One.