Brendan Lines 3 Sept, 2020 11:00pm

This weekend’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza will mark the an end of an era in Formula 1 as the last race the Williams family will be at the helm of the team created by Sir Frank Williams in 1977, Williams won its first Drivers and Constructors World Championship with Australian driver Alan Jones in 1980.

The departure comes as Williams Racing was sold to US investment company Dorilton Captial in late August, after the team said in May it would embark on a “new strategic direction,” as the team felt the financial strain of the 2020 season’s COVID lockdown period along with eight years of declining performance since its last win in Spain 2012.

After 43 years and 739 Grands Prix, 114 Grand Prix wins, 128 pole positions, 133 fastest laps, seven Drivers and nine Constructors World Championships, the Williams family will leave the sport, after the recent conclusion of the Strategic Review process and consequent sale of Williams Grand Prix Engineering to the US-based investment firm ensuring the team’s future.

Daughter to Sir Frank and Deputy Team principal since 2013, Claire Williams says it is a timely point at which the Williams family have chosen to exit the sport.

“With the future of the team now secured, this feels like the appropriate time for us to step away from the sport,” she said.

“As a family, we have always prioritised Williams. We have demonstrated that by our recent actions with the Strategic Review process and we believe now is the right time to hand over the reins and give the new owners the opportunity to take the team into the future.”

Sir Frank and Claire have ensured the family have remained at the helm of the team since its first race in 1977. The team has been through many periods of triumph and adversity, but the rising costs to compete at the front of the field has simply gone beyond the means of a family business model.

Before her last Grand Prix this weekend, Williams’ last act as Team principal has been to be influence the successful campaigning for a more sustainable Formula 1 set out in the new Concorde Agreement.

The Agreement, now signed by all teams, maps out a more level playing field for the sport with more equitable financial and technical regulations moving forwards that all Formula teams will be able to capitalise upon from 2021 and beyond.

Williams said in a statement from the team she had hoped to continue her tenure into the future, but the need for inward investment, Williams said lead to ‘a number of factors, many of which were outside of our control, resulted in the sale to Dorilton Capital.’

At last week’s Belgian Grand Prix, Williams confirmed the family no longer owned the team, but was coy about her future; “This is very early days obviously, for the moment it’s business as usual,” she said.

The sale is reported to be US$ 180 million, the Williams family were paid 52 per cent of this from the US based company buyer who is believed to have strong European ties.

Dorilton is a private investment firm headquartered in the United States and Savage has lead the company since 2009. Prior to founding Dorilton, Savage was with Rothschild as an advisor for 22 years in both London and New York.

Williams also announced the Chairman of Dorilton Matthew Savage along with Darren Fultz and James Matthews will make up the company’s new Board of Directors following the acquisition of the team.

Having no apparent prior involvement in Formula 1 are Dorilton simply doing a favour or is there something else in mind? A sale of this value and the amount of debt involved is an interesting mix in the current world economic climate.

Savage, the now Chairman of Williams Grand Prix Engineering and Dorilton Capital said: “We fully respect the very tough decision of Claire and the Williams family to step away from the team and the business after securing new resources for its future,

“She has also been hugely instrumental in shaping a more level technical and financial playing field for F1, which will help to ensure the team’s return to the front of the grid in seasons to come.”

As the Formula 1 paddock farewells the Williams family at Monza this weekend, it will be the final end to the sport’s guard of pioneering constructors racing cars built in a garage born out of the dream of one man’s vision, to dominate the world’s most fiercely competitive and highest motorsport category.

Formula 1 is now exclusively where the conglomerates race.