Williams have most of their Formula 1 rivals beat when it comes to its history and standing within the sport – but otherwise, they are lagging behind.
This once great team has suffered much in recent years, and is a long way off the sort of results once expected of it. Williams won half of the constructors' championships contested between 1980 and 1997, for example.
But the 21st century has been far less kind. There have been flashes of a possible revival at times, but none of them have lasted long enough to provide the momentum required. Now no longer under the leadership of the Williams family, after the 2020 buyout by Dorilton Capital, the mountain that must be climbed has rarely looked more steep.
Jost Capito became chief executive in December 2020, with Simon Roberts as team principal following Claire Williams' departure. By June the following year Roberts had also left, and so Capito took on that role also with the help of technical director Francois-Xavier Demaison.
While not amazing, that 2021 season did yield a few moments of joy as Williams finished eighth, ahead of Alfa Romeo and Haas. But while those two teams improved this year, the Grove-based team did not and finished rock bottom of the standings with just eight points. AlphaTauri, one place higher, finished with a total more than four times greater.
Williams will now head into the 2023 season with a new management team, after announcing the departure of Capito and Demaison on Monday. Speaking to Mirror Sport last week, the German was honest in his appraisal of a season which provided little joy for his team.
"It was a very long and hard season, and still everybody is trying to recover – we didn't finish where we wanted to," said Capito in an interview at the Autosport Awards. He went on to make it clear that he and those above him had expected a lot more from what turned out to be a terrible year for the team.
But, perhaps keen to convey at least some sense of optimism, he went on to add that Williams had purposely given up on their 2022 car development earlier than planned, knowing they were too far behind and that their efforts would be better spent on working towards a better season next year.
He added: "We saw after the summer break that we wouldn't get up the grid from 10th, and so we focussed on next year's car. Let's see how it pays off. I think we have to have a better year next year. We changed a lot internally, how we engineer and develop the car and also the investment from 2021 – all that should be reflected in our performance."
