Jost Capito: Managing Williams F1’s woes is like ‘open heart surgery while running a marathon’
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Former Williams CEO and team principal Jost Capito
With their 9 Constructors’ championships, Williams are the second-most successful Formula 1 team. They’re a considerable way behind Ferrari (16) and have McLaren and Mercedes (both with 8) breathing down their neck in the championship table. But still – they bear one of the most decorated names in the history of the sport.
Founded in 1977 by the late great Sir Frank Wiliams, the team won all of their 9 titles between 1980 and 1997. Their most successful period came from 1991-1997, during which they won the title five times, finishing runner-up the other years. But those days of glory are far gone. Their last race win was back in 2012 with Pastor Maldonado. Before that, you’ll have to go back to 2004, when Juan Pablo Montoya won the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix.
Since 2018, they’ve finished dead last in all but one season. A significant amount of blame for this goes to their financial issues, the worst of which are now past after Dorilton Capital’s acquisition. Former CEO Jost Capito even said that the team might have gone under without the budget cap. But even then, they’ve got some serious problems to sort out before they can even think of returning to the success of the 80s and 90s.
They were the worst team last season and took the decision to focus on 2023 very early on. If this doesn’t help them take a step forward, then Capito felt it would be a catastrophe. In an interview before he had left his post as CEO, the German said: “Next year, we have to do a step forward, otherwise it’s something really wrong. We’re still not there where the others are.” he said, as per Motorsport.com.
Related: Jost Capito: Williams F1 ‘wouldn’t exist anymore’ if not for budget cap
Jost Capito: Making Williams competitive again ‘not just about throwing money’
The budget cap has been enforced to create closer competition, but it’s safe to say it hasn’t really come into play yet. When it does, it should help Williams take a further step forward in comparison to the other teams. But even after the cost cap stabilizes the field, it’s not going to be very easy – as Jost Capito said: “Now to catch up with the same amount that everybody has, it’s not just about throwing money at it.”
Capito then gave an analogy about their attempts to get Williams in a better place: “What we are doing now, it’s like surgery on the open heart while the patient is running a marathon. This you have to manage. You just can’t say, OK, shut down two years, restructure, do everything, and then we come back. It’s not possible. So you have the pressure of the season, and you have the pressure at home where you say OK, what is a modern Formula 1 team? How does it run?”
Williams have not yet announced their replacement for Capito (or FX Demaison for that matter). It remains to be seen if they will split the CEO and team principal roles that Capito was managing by himself. The successor will inherit atleast some of the same issues Capito had to face, and it’ll be interesting to see how the new man will manage them.
In case you missed it:
- “It has been a huge privilege to lead Williams Racing,” Jost Capito releases his statement after announcing departure from Williams
- Who was the first ever Williams F1 Team Principal?
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Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)