Williams co-founder Patrick Head says his former team now has much “better leadership” in place after a decade of “performing quite weakly”.
Midway through last year, Williams went through a change of ownership as it was sold to American firm Dorilton Capital to help boost investment.
Founder Frank Williams and his daughter and deputy team principal Claire relinquished control of the family-run team, stepping down from their respective roles after the 2020 Italian Grand Prix.
Aside from the new owners, Williams has undergone a major reshuffle to improve its leadership structure, appointing from Volkswagen motorsport chief Jost Capito as CEO before he took over as team principal earlier this year.
Following its disastrous 2019 campaign, when the Grove-based outfit was way off the pace, Williams has steadily improved its competitiveness – and secured its first points finish in two years at the recent Hungarian Grand Prix.
While there is clear progress on and off the track, Head stressed Williams wasn’t quite there “on merit” just yet, but felt it was heading in the right direction.
“They were obviously assisted by that front end, first corner accident,” Head told Formula 1’s Beyond the Grid podcast.
“So, they’re not really there yet on merit. They’ve got a little bit of a way to go before they’re there.
“But I think the people in place are good, the determination is good. I don’t know very much about the funding myself but I understand that is in place.
“I’d have to say not every year that I was involved were we winners, but we were for the majority, so it’s been a little sad over the last 10 years to see them performing quite weakly.
“I’m very pleased to see them coming back. And I think Jost and the people he brought in – they have some very good people there who have been there for some time, but they need better leadership at the top and I think they’ve got that now.”
Capito recently revealed Williams won’t have to rely on hiring pay drivers when considering its driver line-up for next year, thanks to the added backing of Dorilton Capital.
Current incumbents George Russell and Nicholas Latifi are both out of contract at the end of the season, with the former heavily linked with replacing Valtteri Bottas at Mercedes.
Head, who briefly returned to Williams in a consultancy role during its bleak period, admitted he doesn’t follow F1 as much now he’s fully stepped aside.
“I am in touch with Jost Capito, who I’ve known for some time,” said Head.
“I don’t have any idea that I ring them up and advise them how they should develop the car or anything like that.
“But I am in touch with them.”
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