Ecclestone is looking for a buyer/investor for Williams
General
- GPblog.com
Last week Williams announced that the agreement with title sponsor ROKiT was terminated with immediate effect and it was also announced that they are open to sell the team. At the same time, Claire Williams has indicated that they will simply be present this season, so Williams will not just disappear. Nevertheless, the situation is fragile and Bernie Ecclestone is now offering a helping hand.
A great loss
Williams is one of the legendary teams in Formula 1 and it would be a shame to lose that team. That's how Bernie Ecclestone feels about it and that's why he's now trying to do his bit. In a telephone interview with Straitstimes.com the former boss of Formula 1 says: "I'm looking around to see if I can find people who want to get involved".
However, this is not easy in these times he agrees: "Owning a team is an expensive hobby and I hope this is not the end of the Williams team. It would be the end of an era, but I hope that someone can be found who can afford to lead the team. It's a terrible thing to lose a team like that."
"Dear old Frank worked so hard to make sure the team was competitive, and it happened. To see that disappear now, that's not good, because it's a historic team", said Ecclestone about Frank Williams who led the team for years as team boss.
Management
Now Frank Williams is still involved in the team, but his daughter Claire is the one who controls everything from day to day. Although Ecclestone doesn't mention her and the other top people at Williams by name, he does question the management.
"Frank was practical in the way he led the team. Unfortunately, the current management doesn't have the same status that Frank does. He could get things done." Something that the current management clearly has not succeeded in the eyes of Ecclestone, but he is not too keen to help in the search for a buyer or investor.