Williams secures future after being sold to US company Dorilton Capital

A vital piece of Formula One’s soul was lost yesterday as Williams, the last family-owned team and the winner of nine constructors’ titles, passed quietly into the hands of an American private investment house. On the surface, it was a victory for deputy team principal Claire Williams, in that the company, built by her father from scratch, has been allowed to preserve both its name and its Oxfordshire base. But at a deeper level, the sale offered a grim reflection on an operation that has slipped from third to last on the grid in just five years and whose financial model has been rendered unsustainable by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Williams’ owners for its next chapter are Dorilton Capital, a New York investment firm specialising in the engineering and manufacturing sectors.

According to the Stock Exchange summary, the sale was for £136 million, a modest sum in F1 terms and roughly what Lewis Hamilton could be expected to earn in 3½ years. In the short term, the move secures Williams’ future at the pinnacle of motorsport, coming a day after F1 agreed its Concorde Agreement, a pact tying all 10 teams to the series until 2025.

But it signals an irrevocable shift in identity for Williams, whose founder, Sir Frank, was opposed to the notion of ceding control. While handing over the business to Dorilton brings economic relief, it signals the dream he hatched 43 years ago is over, that his team can no longer survive as a family-run entity against corporate behemoths of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.

Sir Frank, increasingly frail at 78 and having long relinquished the day-to-day running of the team to Claire, was said to be fully supportive of the sale. “As a family, we have always put our team first,” his daughter said. “Making the team successful again and protecting our people has been at the heart of this process from the start.

“This may be the end of an era for Williams as a family-owned team, but we know it is in good hands.”