Williams’ Claire Williams feels that COVID-19 pandemic has somewhat left the F1 financial troubles out in open as she updates on the well-being of Sir Frank.
The COVID-19 crisis has sent the entire F1 ecosystem into a tailspin, where the hardest hit of all of the teams on the grid, though, are the midfield and smaller ones, and especially the private ones like Williams or Racing Point or Haas.
And in the eyes of many of the biggest figures within F1, this points out a major flaw in the way that it functions as a sport. Among these are McLaren’s Andreas Seidl and the latest to voice their opinion, Williams – both the teams having had a long history.
Both these team principals take issue with the fact that the system favors and benefits the F1 teams larger in growth, and therefore makes it significantly more difficult for the smaller teams to survive, which the COVID-19 pandemic has showed.
“I think this an opportunity and as I said, I think F1 and the model within which we operate has been exposed as probably an unsustainable model when something like this happens,” said Williams in an interview to Sky Sports. “This is unprecedented and this is crisis mode and it is incredibly difficult to navigate your way through.
“Survival is critical, and we have to put the work in now, so that should a similar situation arise, god forbid, we are all much better protected, rather than having to scramble like we are having to do now. We are working incredibly hard not just within Williams but within the sport as a whole.
“F1 really does come together in these circumstances. The bigger teams understand the work they need to do to ensure the smaller teams’ survival. The smaller teams understand and sympathise with what we are asking of the bigger teams.
“What is disappointing is that we don’t have the new regulations that were coming in for 2021 which we’d got to a really good place with and which were going to really set a great future for all of our teams. I think if we had those regulations implemented two years ago, we might not all be as concerned as we are now.
“We are a little exposed at the moment. But I trust that we will get through this. I am eternally optimistic.” McLaren has been the leading voice among all this with Zak Brown pressing for even lower budget cap, so that it helps the smaller teams to survive.
In that same interview with Sky Sports, the British team principal discussed the health of her father, and Williams founder, Sir Frank. His health has always been of great importance to the F1 world, but it’s particularly important now, with COVID-19.
Given his age, Frank would naturally be a high-risk individual, were he to catch the virus, it being one which greatly impacts people over the age of 65 years. Despite this, Claire stated that he is in fact in good health and is staying at the factory in Grove.
“He’s really well,” she said. “Frank is in the high risk category, he’s 78 and with the health issues that he has, the poor man has been in lockdown for longer than any of us. He is in week eight or something like that. He has fantastic carers and lives at the factory. He is surrounded by his cars and the like. He is in great form and I hope that continues.
“I miss him dreadfully. I FaceTime him every day with my little one which he loves, but I think sometimes Dad would like to be left alone. He told me to ‘get lost’ the other day as I interrupted him as he was watching a re-run of some rugby match – so that tells us all we need to know! Dad is fine.”
https://twitter.com/WilliamsRacing/status/1250819007508340736?s=20
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The story was edited by Darshan Chokhani
