Claire Williams on Drive to Survive return: 'I miss F1 dreadfully'
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Five years after she left the Williams F1 team, former deputy team principal Claire Williams has returned to the sport as an analyst on the Netflix popular docu-series Drive to Survive.
Williams was a family operation founded by Claire's father Sir Frank Williams in 1977, which went on to win seven drivers' championships and nine constructors' titles in a blaze of success during the 1980s and 90s.
Having previously worked in the public relations operation at the squad, Claire took over the day-to-day running of the team from her father in March 2013.
Although outright wins eluded the Grove-based outfit in the following seasons, Williams remained a top-tier midfield contender in F1, but financial constraints progressively set in.
The onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and a hefty £13 million loss accumulated in 2019 sparked a strategic review, the outcome of which left little doubt as to the course of action that was required.
The Williams family eventually decided to sell the operation to investment group Dorilton Capital for 152 million euros in August 2020.
SteppingAwayfromtheGrid
Claire Williams was offered the chance to stay on as team principal, but she opted to leave with immediate effect after the 2020 Italian GP. Sadly, her father passed away a year later at 79 while in her care.
"I managed his care team," Williams told PA News in 2023. "I made sure he was happy and comfortable in his new home and we went off and did some nice stuff together. He would pick up my little one, Nate, from nursery.
"But then he got sicker, greater care was required to look after him and he passed away. But for the next six months, we organised this wonderful memorial service.
"We then decided to move house, renovating our old house in Ascot and our new home in South Downs.
"So, I am the master of distraction. Life carries on. And as much as I miss Williams, and I miss Formula 1 dreadfully, there is a whole other world out there.
"You have to go and find happy elsewhere. That is what I have done."
Back in the Spotlight with Drive to Survive
Speaking recently to Formula1.com, Claire Williams admitted that returning to F1 in her capacity as an analyst for Drive to Survive was "a very strange experience for me."
"I'm very mindful of what a privilege it is to be asked to do it," said the former deputy team principal, quoted by Motorsport.com.
"It's one of the biggest sporting reality programmes on television and it's beautifully made. I do however find it strange as I was once on the other side of the fence. Before, I would be on the show and people would be judging me.
"Now one of my responsibilities sat in the chair as a talking head is to comment on what people in the sport are now doing.
"When I was in the sport, it was one of the things I liked the least about it – that you're so exposed and people have so many opinions.
"So, when I agreed to do it, as much as it was a privilege, for me it was about how am I going balance being able to analyse and comment on people whose shoes I have walked in – and do it in a fair and positive way. It's not easy."
Read also:
Claire Williams' journey from the pit lane to the Drive to Survive studio marks a poignant full-circle moment.
Stepping away from the relentless scrutiny of F1 leadership, she's embraced a new role that blends her insider expertise with a fresh perspective.
It's a testament to her resilience—mourning her father, leaving a legacy behind, and finding joy beyond the grid.
Now, as she navigates this "strange" yet privileged perch, Williams is poised to offer viewers a fair, empathetic lens on the sport she once lived and breathed, proving that even in reinvention, her connection to F1 endures.
Drive to Survive – Season 7 – is now streaming on Netflix.
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