(Hazel Grove) Williams team principal Jost Capito and technical director Francois-Xavier Demaison have announced they have left the British team after it finished bottom in the Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship.
Capito led the team for two seasons, after US investment fund Dorilton Capital bought the team from the Williams family in 2020.
No reason was offered for Capito’s departure. A statement confirming the 64-year-old German’s departure, however, included a statement from Dorilton Capital chairman Matthew Savage, in which he said he (Capito) “has postponed his retirement plans in order to take up the job at Williams”.
The Williams team finished eighth among the 10 teams on the grid in 2021, and they recorded their first podium since 2017 when Briton George Russell finished second in the Belgian Grand Prix – which was cut short due to the bad weather conditions. Following Russell’s departure for Mercedes at the start of the 2022 season, Williams has registered just eight rankings points.
Williams did not offer timelines for replacing Capito and Demainson. The first race of the campaign will take place on March 5 in Bahrain.
Williams has won nine constructors’ championships, second in history behind Ferrari, but none since 1997 – the year of the conquest of the F1 world championship by Quebecer Jacques Villeneuve.