Claire Williams had the unenviable task of taking over the Williams team as deputy team principal in 2013 when the team were at one of their low ebbs.
Under Claire Williams, the team achieved some great results before they were sold in 2020 to private investment firm Dorilton although they’re still waiting to celebrate their first victory since Pastor Maldonado’s triumph in 2012.
Speaking to BlackBook Motorsport, Williams was talking about her time with the team and named her favourite driver pairing.
Plenty of drivers turned out for the team under Williams’s watch and they enjoyed some real success.
Unfortunately, with money running out towards her time in charge, that was reflected in their results.
Under James Vowles, the team are trying to return to the front end of the grid, although that’s proving more difficult than he would like.
Alex Albon is a very strong driver, although there are still question marks over Logan Sargeant.
However, Williams has shared that 34-year-old Valtteri Bottas and 11-time winner Felipe Massa was her favourite driver pairing.
They were brilliant for the team despite being at very different points in their careers.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Williams Racing from team principal to Mercedes relationship
Claire Williams names Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa as her favourite driver pairing
When Williams first took on the role at the start of the 2013 season, Maldonado and Bottas were in Renault-powered cars but managed to score just five points between them.
The Finn was only a rookie and the following year Massa arrived after parting ways with Ferrari.
From barely scoring a point the year before, Massa and Bottas were regularly in the points for Williams and finished on the podium 14 times during their time together.
The good times don’t last forever though and by 2017 Bottas had moved on to Mercedes and Massa left the sport the following year.
From there, things took a downward turn for the team…
READ MORE: Sauber driver Valtteri Bottas’ life outside F1 from girlfriend to wine and gin
Claire Williams talks about her time in charge of Williams
The story from BlackBook Motorsport shares that Williams admitted Bottas and Massa were her “favourite driver line-up” during seven years with the team.
Elaborating on her time in Formula 1, she said: “I got 15 podiums during my time, I don’t think any team principal outside of Toto [Wolff] and Christian [Horner], in the last 14 years, have had 15 podiums.
“I’ve scored a quarter of Williams’ total points tally in the team’s entire history. That’s a lot of points. But people forget that because of the last three years of my time.”
The only podium achieved by the team that wasn’t courtesy of Massa or Bottas was achieved by Lance Stroll.
In his debut season, he finished third in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, being pipped on the post by Bottas after his move to Mercedes.
Williams also worked with the likes of Sergey Sirotkin, Robert Kubica – who admitted his return to the team was a mistake – and George Russell.
Nicholas Latifi was the final signing made under Williams although the team failed to score a point throughout that campaign.
Williams will hope they can continue to the glory days of Bottas and Massa soon, although they might need to wait until the next set of regulations for that to happen.
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