Co-founder of Williams: 'Sad to see them perform weakly'

F1 News

19 August 2021 at 15:41
Last update 19 August 2021 at 15:51
  • GPblog.com

There has been little left of the team that won nine Constructors' titles and seven Drivers' titles in recent years. In fact, since 2018 it has consistently been the worst performing team on the Formula 1 grid, but Williams is slowly starting to get back on its feet.

Sad to see weak performance

Williams was one of the top teams in Formula 1 for decades. Founded in 1977 by Frank Williams and Patrick Head, the team managed to win a whopping 114 Grand Prix, was on the podium 312 times and in pole position 128 times. In recent years, the team has been struggling to score any points at all.

Head, who retired in 2011, looks at Williams' performance with members' eyes. "I was involved with Williams for almost forty years, during which time we won a lot of races, so it was a bit sad to see them perform weakly for the last ten years. I'm very happy to see them come back," Head said in the new episode of Beyond the Grid.

Better leadership

In Hungary, Williams managed to score points for the first time since 2019, but that also involved some luck. "They were obviously helped by that accident at the front of the first corner," Head believes. "So they're not really there yet on merit. They have a long way to go before they get to that point."

Head does believe that the team has a good one in new team boss Jost Capito. "They have some very good people there who have been there for a while, but they needed better leadership at the top and I think they have that now. The determination is good, I don't know much about the funding myself but I understand it's there."