Claire Williams

This article is about the former Formula One deputy team principal. For the Paralympian athlete, see Claire Williams (athlete). For other people named Claire Williams, see Claire Williams (disambiguation).

Claire Victoria Williams^[1] OBE (born 21 July 1976) is a British former motorsport executive who was the deputy team principal of the Williams Formula One racing team from 2013 to 2020.^[2][3][4] She is one of only two women to have ever managed teams in Formula One.^[5] In 2023, she became a brand ambassador for WAE Technologies, an R&D off-shoot of the racing team.^[6]

Claire Williams OBE
Williams in 2016
Born	Claire Victoria Williams (1976-07-21) 21 July 1976 (age 47) Windsor, Berkshire, England
Alma mater	Newcastle University
Occupation	Deputy team principal of Williams Racing (2013–2020)
Spouse	Marc Harris ​ (m. 2018)​
Children	1
Parent	Frank Williams (father)

Early life

Claire Williams was born in 1976 in Windsor, Berkshire. She is the daughter of Sir Frank Williams and Lady Virginia Williams.^[7] She graduated from Newcastle University in 1999 with a degree in politics.^[8]

Career

After graduation, Williams became a press officer for the Silverstone racing circuit. In 2002, she joined the Williams F1 team as a Communications Officer and became Head of Communications in 2010. In March 2011, she took on the position of Head of Investor Relations to supplement her role in the communications team, playing a lead role as Williams moved from private to public ownership through listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 2011.^[9] In 2012, she was promoted to Director of Marketing & Communications. When Frank Williams stepped down in March 2012, Claire became the Williams family representative on the board.^[10] In March 2013, she was appointed deputy team principal of the Williams F1 racing team.^[3][11] In this role, she was de facto team boss and assumed the day-to-day running of the team from her father.^[12][13]

Taking over after some of the worst years in the team's history, Williams replaced the race drivers, signing Felipe Massa alongside Valtteri Bottas and restructuring the engineering department.^{[14][15][16][17]} The team also switched to Mercedes engines and became a test-bed for the development of hybrid technology in engines and kinetic energy recovery systems, known as KERS.^[18][19][20] Williams also increased the team's racing budget by securing profitable corporate sponsorships, factors that helped the team to somewhat of a renaissance between 2014 and 2017, when it finished third twice and then fifth twice.^[21][22]

Under her leadership, Williams F1 launched initiatives guiding students into engineering careers, redeveloped the team's work with its official charity, the Spinal Injuries Association, and supported F1's sustainability strategy through the expansion of WAE Technologies.^[23][24][25] Her focus on building a high-performing team at Williams included identifying some of the industry's biggest talents, notably George Russell, who publicly thanked her for giving him his big opportunity in the sport.^[26]

A keen advocate for greater diversity and inclusion within her team and across the sport, Williams wanted to use her position to change attitudes within motor racing, and to bring more women into motorsport and engineering.^[27][28] She appointed female drivers Susie Wolff and Jamie Chadwick to development roles, set up a female ambassadors in schools initiative, supported the UK government's Women in Innovation scheme, created workplace opportunities for minority groups, promoted STEM subjects for female students and increased the proportion of women at Williams to 17.6%, the highest in the F1 paddock.^{[29][30][28][31]} She was also a patron of F1 in Schools and an ambassador for Dare to be Different.^[32][33]

Williams was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to Formula 1 racing in the 2016 Birthday Honours.^[34]

Faced with the economic impact of the pandemic plus commercial terms that increasingly favoured the big teams, Williams was forced to put the team up for sale in order to secure its future, subsequently selling to private investment firm Dorilton in August 2020.^[12][35] On 3 September 2020, Williams announced she was resigning as deputy team principal of the Williams team after the 2020 Italian Grand Prix.^[4] Before the race, at the Williams motorhome, she was given the front wing of a Williams FW36 as a souvenir.^[36]

Personal life

On 5 April 2017, Williams announced that she was pregnant with her first child, a boy.^[37] She gave birth to her son in October 2017.^[38] In January 2018, Williams announced her marriage to Marc Harris.^[39]

References

1. "Italian Grand Prix". Formula One Pre-Qualifying. 5 September 2020. Sky Sports F1.
2. . Williams Grand Prix Engineering. 2013. Archived from the original on 19 February 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
3. Ian Parkes (27 March 2013). "Frank Williams promotes daughter Claire to deputy team principal at F1 team". The Independent. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
4. "Williams family to step aside from running of the team after Italian GP". Formula1.com. 3 September 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
5. "Claire Williams OBE appointed as Brand Ambassador for WAE Technologies - Business & Innovation Magazine". 16 February 2023. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
6. "Claire Williams returns to the family business". Motor Sport Magazine. 24 February 2023. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
7. "My Secret Life: Claire Williams, 36, Williams F1 Deputy Team Principal". The Independent. 18 April 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
8. Charlie Cooper (20 April 2013). "My Secret Life: Claire Williams, 36, Williams F1 Deputy Team Principal". The Independent. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
9. "Getting to know: Claire Williams OBE". Salracing. 10 July 2020. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
10. Andrew Benson (2 March 2012). "Sir Frank Williams steps down from the Williams team board". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
11. Andrew Benson (28 March 2013). "Williams names daughter Claire deputy team principal". BBC Sport. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
12. "How Claire Williams's F1 era should be remembered". The Race. 3 September 2020. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
13. formula1.com (17 May 2013). "Claire Williams Q & A:I won't give up until we're back". formula1.com. Retrieved 3 June 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
14. "Williams not worried by £42.5m loss". BBC Sport. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
15. "Wolff to drive in F1 race practices". BBC Sport. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
16. "Williams relief ahead of new F1 season". BBC Sport. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
17. Richards, Giles (25 July 2015). "Claire Williams targets wins and world title as F1 team sense sunnier future". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
18. "Claire Williams is back at Williams - but not the F1 team". The Race. 19 February 2023. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
19. "Can technology take Williams to the front of the F1 grid?". BBC News. 23 October 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
20. Ruddick, Graham (16 November 2015). "F1 contribution to UK economy is underrated, says Williams boss". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
21. "Williams relief ahead of new F1 season". BBC Sport. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
22. "Williams up for sale after £13m loss". BBC Sport. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
23. "Williams launch new engineering academy". Formula 1® - The Official F1® Website. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
24. "Spinal Injuries Association - Official Charity of Williams Racing". SIA. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
25. "Claire Williams OBE appointed as Brand Ambassador for WAE Technologies - Business & Innovation Magazine". 16 February 2023. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
26. Cary, Tom (8 September 2021). "The boy who would be king: Claire Williams on how George Russell is 'F1 world champion in waiting'". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
27. "Williams decline 'not because I am a mum'". BBC Sport. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
28. Card, Jon (24 March 2017). "F1's Claire Williams on resilience, managing expectations and losing top talent". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
29. "Team sold, Williams family to leave F1 after Italian GP". Reuters. 3 September 2020. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
30. Line, Along the Racing (6 March 2022). "Claire Williams: An Inspiring and Uplifting Figure in F1's History". Along the Racing Line. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
31. Brown, Oliver (25 May 2019). "Exclusive: Claire Williams will keep battling to upset F1's male-dominated world". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
32. "Claire Williams joins F1 in Schools". Pitpass. 2 September 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
33. Butterworth, Emma (11 January 2021). "Inspirational Women in Motorsport: Claire Williams". FormulaNerds.com. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
34. "No. 61608". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 2016. p. B15.
35. "Williams F1 racing team sold to US-based investment firm Dorilton Capital". Sky News. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
36. "Claire Williams gifted nose and front wing assembly from 2014 car as family bows out of F1 | Formula 1®". www.formula1.com. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
37. WILLIAMS RACING [@WilliamsRacing] (5 April 2017). "We have a very special congratulations today……!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
38. "F1: Claire Williams gives birth to a boy". www.crash.net. 10 October 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
39. WILLIAMS RACING [@WilliamsRacing] (20 January 2018). "Congratulations to Claire & Marc..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.