Midway through the 2020 season of the Formula 1, the Williams family ceded full control of their team to the investment company Dorilton Capital, thus ending the legacy established by Frank Williams in favor of keeping his team on the grid in the face of economic difficulties aggravated by the pandemic by COVID-19.
Among the movements established by the new directive was the nomination of a CEO, Jost Got it, who with his experience in F1 and the successful project of the WRC with Volkswagen he seeks to steer the British home back to the times when they consistently fought for podiums.
During the Bahrain Grand Prix, Capito admitted that he maintains contact with the team’s founders, but not for advice.
“I am in contact with Claire (Williams) and with Patrick (Head). I’ve known Claire for a couple of years and Patrick for a long time. But I’m not speaking to ask you, can you give me some background on this, on that? We have normal conversations and a good relationship with both, “said the manager.
Capito added that one of his first missions at the helm of the company has been to know how employees feel within it.
“At the beginning, since I couldn’t be in Grove (Williams headquarters), I organized meetings, from half an hour to 45 minutes, team meetings, video calls with all the managers. I have done over 50 so far. He always asked everyone six questions. It was very interesting to see the responses from colleagues who have joined recently or who have been with us for a long time, ”he explained.
“One question was ‘What should we preserve and why?’ I would say that 99 percent of Williams colleagues and people said the sense of family, which is how we treat people and how we work together. I was very happy to hear that from almost everyone, because that is my management style. You have to work as a family ”.
“That does not mean we will always have happy times, because that is how it happens in families, but it means that there is a very strong connection in which you do everything for the family.”
“When you say that blood is stronger than water, then there is blood in the team that connects them all.”
Williams finished at the bottom of the classifier in the 2019 and 2020 seasons, but despite these results, Capito highlighted the unity that exists in the team.
“The team has had a difficult couple of years, but that did not destroy the team, neither the family feeling nor the identity. That’s so strong inside Williams that even these bad times can’t hurt him. And this for me is a fantastic base on which to build and bring the team back through a cooperative management style ”.