2 days Ago By Oliver Harden
Former deputy team principal Claire Williams has landed a surprise new role as an ambassador for Williams F1 team sponsors Santander. Williams, the daughter of late team founder Sir Frank Williams, spent more than seven years as deputy team principal of the F1 team between 2013 and 2020. The 48-year-old has opted to largely stay away from F1 in the years since, telling PlanetF1.
com in an exclusive and wide-ranging interview last year (below) that she has found it “really tough” to adjust to life without the Williams F1 team since the sale to Dorilton Capital in 2020. Williams has most recently appeared as a pundit in Drive to Survive, the widely acclaimed F1-based Netflix docuseries. The Williams F1 team announced a multi-year partnership with Santander at the end of last year, with the Spanish bank arriving hot on the heels of Carlos Sainz’s move from Ferrari.
👉 Exclusive: The inside story of Williams’ incredible start to the F1 turbo hybrid era 👉 Claire Williams exclusive: How Williams dream turned into a nightmare before forced sale Santander joined forces with Williams for F1 2025 after sponsoring Ferrari between 2022 and 2024, the period when Sainz claimed all four of his F1 victories to date. In a surprise development, Williams has joined Santander as an F1 ambassador in a move that could see her working alongside the team her family once owned. In a statement posted to social media, she said: “Thrilled to join Santander UK as their F1 Ambassador.
“Incredible to be part of a brilliant day with their leadership team – talking all things performance, resilience and what it really takes to lead under pressure. “Big thanks to Mike Regnier [Santander UK chief executive] and the team for the warm welcome and Jennie Gow [F1 presenter] for leading such a great conversation. “Excited for what’s ahead.
” 👉 Carlos Sainz news 👉 Williams news Williams’ new role comes just weeks after she declared that her time in F1 is “over”, claiming that she would “never” be invited to return to the Williams team and saying it “would be weird” to take a role with a rival outfit. She told the official F1 website: “Being part of Drive to Survive has enabled me to maintain a connection but one where I’m at a distance. “My time in F1 is over.
I ran Williams – that was my family and my father’s team. That era is over. “I’m one to believe in new beginnings.
I’m never going to be asked to go back and run Williams and I’m certainly not going to be offered another job in the sport as I’m a Williams, so it would be weird. “The Drive to Survive role gives me a link back into a sport that I love and it enables me to talk about a sport I love.” “I still miss F1 every single day.
“For anyone who works in the sport or loves the sport, we all love it for a reason. There is something extraordinarily magical about it and that passion never dies. “So of course I miss it every day, but life isn’t all about F1 for me anymore.
“I get to blend my life with other exciting opportunities.” Read next: 10 totally true F1 facts that sound completely fake.
