Williams “cracking open champagne” after F1 2021 meeting

Claire Williams says she wanted to “crack open some champagne” leaving the Formula 1 2021 meeting with Liberty Media after admitting the team’s long-term future looked “pretty bleak”.

All F1 teams and the FIA were presented with Liberty’s future vision for the sport beyond the end of the 2020 season – when the current Concorde Agreements expire – with the F1 commercial rights holders laying out a five-point plan on engines, budget caps, revenue redistribution, rules and governance.

The general feeling between F1 teams is Liberty’s new ideas will benefit the smaller squads while also encouraging potential new teams and engine manufacturers to join the sport while hoping to find a compromise with the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes.

Williams has led the sentiment and feels the Grove-based squad’s long term outlook has received a huge boost in F1.

“I think we’ve all hoped for change under our new management and I think they [Liberty] presented change,” Williams said. “For a team like ours, based on what they presented, it was an extremely good day for us.

“I came back thinking let’s crack open some champagne, because from our perspective if we can get these new regulations through, and if Liberty/FOM do everything they say they are going to do, that they presented this morning, then from our perspective I know that Williams’ future is safe.

“That’s not to say that we were on the brink, or anywhere close, but with today’s sport and the way it is structured and with the financial disparity between teams then the likelihood of Williams’ survival into the medium and long-term was looking pretty bleak.”

As expected Williams is therefore a strong backer for both the predicted $150million budget cap plus a revenue redistribution to provide a fairer share of the F1 prize money.

“Everything they presented from revenue redistribution to cost caps is absolutely everything that we want to see from 2021 and beyond, so I’m personally delighted with the proposals that they laid down,” she said. “I know that in the past you can have these conversations and they come out and not necessarily anything is ever done about it, but I’m not sure these discussions are negotiable.”