Williams has stressed that it does not want to diminish its independent status in Formula 1 long-term and has no intentions of becoming a ‘B-team’.
Williams has been a customer team to various engine suppliers since 2005 and has forged a lengthy partnership with Mercedes.
It was announced earlier this year that its technical partnership with Mercedes will be strengthened in 2022, taking gearboxes and other internal components from their power unit supplier.
But recently-appointed CEO Jost Capito has stressed that Williams wants to remain separate from any manufacturers long-term.
“Our clear objective is to remain an independent team and not being bought by any other team or by an OEM because we see the future in the sport,” said Capito.
“Williams has always been independent, and what we see [as] A and B teams, for us a B team is a team that doesn’t have an independent ownership, it has some ownership from an OEM or another Formula 1 team.
“By that definition we don’t want to be a B team, we want to be an A team because racing is our core business and should stay our core business and independent from a manufacturer who decides to be in or out that would challenge our existence.”
Capito went on to praise the investment undertaken since Dorilton Capital’s takeover of the company mid-season and says it is now up to Williams to utilise the upgraded facilities.
“I think from the infrastructure side there has been a lot done since Dorilton took over,” he said.
“Since the end of last year there has been a lot invested in infrastructure, and for example in the machine parts, there are brand new fantastic machines, if it is in 3D printing, hardware, software, on the IT structure.
“A lot has been done. We have a fantastic wind tunnel. We have not everything but we have most in place to move up the grid.
“But it is not ‘you put new machines in and turn the switch on and they work properly’, you have to implement it, you have to calibrate the stuff, then you have to make it work.
“That’s why it was important to get the investment in at the end of last year to make it available, working properly, with good results, for the 2022 car.”
For all Claire Williams’s commitment, determination, effort and passion, she simply didn’t have the rare talent of Sir Frank, and it was no disgrace to finally accept and admit that fact, because he was one of great independent team leaders, along with others such as Chapman, Tyrrell, Brabham, and McLaren. Now Williams are taking positive steps, by bringing in men like Capito and Demaison, who have had great successes in other major motorsport series, they are following the McLaren model, where Andreas Seidl came from Porsche and has clearly made an impact as they shook off their backmarker woes and increased their competitiveness year on year. Hopefully, Williams fortunes will be similarly transformed over the next few seasons.