Claire Williams: “As for these bullshit posts, I’ve got to say – piss off!”

In August 2020, what had long been on the cards finally came to pass: Claire Williams sold the historic racing team founded by her father, Frank Williams, to the US investment firm Dorilton Capital.

The nine-time Constructors’ Championship winners benefited at the start of the turbo-hybrid era from the boost provided by the incredibly powerful Mercedes engine; in 2014 and 2015, the team finished third in the World Championship in each season, back then sporting the stunning livery of their main sponsor, Martini.

Then came the collapse – after finishing fifth in both 2016 and 2017, Williams came last twice; in 2019, they managed to score just a single meagre point across 21 races, and 2020 marked rock bottom. For the first time ever in the team’s history, not a single World Championship point was scored.

In August 2020, the inevitable happened, right in the middle of the season: Frank Williams sold the team to the US investment firm Dorilton Capital. Had the Williams family not stepped back, the third-oldest Formula 1 team would in all likelihood no longer exist today.

Under new boss James Vowles, Williams secured a respectable fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship in 2025 (their best finish since 2017); in 2026, the team currently sits in P8.

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Claire Williams is now rarely seen in the premier class. She was recently a guest on the High Performance podcast, and what the British woman said there certainly gives one food for thought. For some fans, the sting of Williams’ decline clearly still runs deep.

Claire Williams says: “The bullshit comments you get, really nasty posts that are just rubbish, that you don’t need – it’s unbelievable. Some people seem to think it’s perfectly fine to write really nasty things. I’ve just had enough of it. I still get them, and I haven’t been actively involved in the sport for six years.”

“Just the other evening, someone wrote: ‘Oh yes, you’re the woman who brought your father’s team down.’ All I can say to that is – piss off! What do you know anyway? If you want to say that to my face, then be brave enough – don’t hide behind your keyboard and don’t badmouth other people, because what have you actually achieved in your life? I just think it’s all a load of rubbish.”

“That’s what really annoys me about sport. We’re all giving it our all, and I find it unbelievable that other people, who aren’t in your shoes, think they have the right to put someone else down like that.”

“Ultimately, these people don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes. Because it’s Formula 1, because you can’t talk about so many things in public, you just don’t talk about the contracts you’ve got, or about everything that happens behind the scenes – because you simply don’t do that, and it’s the same throughout the paddock. But because you can’t talk about it, people don’t necessarily know what you go through behind the scenes day in, day out.”

“It’s really tough, and you inevitably put more pressure on yourself than anyone else ever could, and then you get blamed for it as well. People don’t even know ten per cent of what really happened – otherwise their jaws would drop.”

“As for me, I’ve hardly ever spoken about how difficult it was. These are private matters, and I’m not going to air my dirty laundry in public. Nobody needs to know about it. That’s one of the reasons why I haven’t written a book either.”