Claire Williams

Claire Victoria Williams (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. She is one of only two women to have ever managed teams in Formula One. In 2023, she became a brand ambassador for WAE Technologies, an R&D off-shoot of the racing team. Early life Claire Williams was born in 1976 in Windsor, Berkshire. She is the daughter of Sir Frank Williams and Lady Virginia Williams. She graduated from Newcastle University in 1999 with a degree in politics. 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. 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. In March 2013, she was appointed deputy team principal of the Williams F1 racing team. In this role, she was de facto team boss and assumed the day-to-day running of the team from her father. 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. 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. 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.