2000s – Claire Williams
The Williams team is one of F1’s most iconic and historic, propelled to the very top under the leadership of Frank Williams – in their heyday of the 80s and 90s, they claimed a remarkable nine Constructors’ titles.
His daughter Claire, having quite literally grown up around the team, chose to start her motorsport career as a Press Officer at Silverstone. In 2002, she formally joined the family business as their Communications Officer, honing her skills and learning the intricacies of how a team functions before rising to Head of Communications in 2010.
Those years proved especially formative as, throughout the decade, the Oxfordshire-based outfit fell into a gradual decline; they struggled to adapt to financial and technical changes in the sport, with Frank Williams stepping down in 2012. Claire replaced him on the board to represent the family and, within a year, she was appointed Deputy Team Principal and took on the day-to-day running of the team.
She was crucial in guiding Williams through the other side of some of their toughest years as she brought in a new line-up of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas, reformed the engineering department, and agreed a deal to use Mercedes engines.
As well as battling to improve their performance on track, Claire was a strong advocate for female representation in motorsport. From appointing female development drivers to working with charities and encouraging women to study STEM subjects, she was determined to establish greater gender diversity.
