Sources suggest Claire Williams, former Williams Formula 1 deputy team principal and daughter of late team founder Sir Frank Williams, is toying with the idea of running to be elected as an MP
Former Formula 1 team boss Claire Williams is considering a career in politics and could run to become an MP in the next General Election, Mirror Sport understands. Williams, 49, is a high-profile figure in the motorsport world and one of only a handful of women to ever run an F1 team.
She worked for the Williams team founded by her late father, Sir Frank Williams, for almost two decades, rising through the ranks to become deputy team principal in 2013. She was in charge of the day-to-day running of the team and also represented the Williams family on the board, until 2020 when the team was sold to American investment firm Dorilton Capital.
Now, she is considering using the leadership skills she honed during her time in the F1 paddock as a platform from which to launch a career in politics. Sources with direct knowledge of the situation have told Mirror Sport Williams is toying with the idea of running as a Conservative candidate in the next General Election, though it is understood she currently has no firm plans.
Williams, who has a politics degree from Newcastle University, told Motor Sport Magazine that she is interested in the idea of a politics career. She said: “Well, it may be a pipe dream, but yes, I’ve thought about it.
“If you’ll allow me to brag for a second, I recently had a meeting with the Duke of Edinburgh and he asked me to be on his development board for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, and in my wildest dreams I couldn’t ever imagine that someone like me would get the chance to do something like that.
“I miss F1, but what I miss most is having a real purpose in work and focusing on something that I really, truly, deeply love and am passionate about.”
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Asked if she would consider running as an MP, Williams added: “Yes – then see what that might lead to. I’d like to drive positive change, to make life better for people. On a much smaller scale, doing that was what I loved most about running Williams.
“The team aspect of it, making sure that everyone had what they needed to do their jobs, that the environment was right and that the culture was conducive to good performance and human happiness.
“The UK should be like that too, and politicians should be devoted to making people’s lives easier, not giving them more to worry about. Certainly, when I look at what’s going on in the UK today, you kind of think, ‘Jeez Louise’…”
Williams would not be the first famous face from the F1 world to also launch a career in politics. Before he became president of governing body the FIA, Max Mosley worked for the Conservative party and was infamously the son of former British fascist leader Oswald Mosley.
Two-time F1 champion Emerson Fittipaldi ran as a candidate in the 2022 Italian parliamentary elections, but lost. But former Williams driver Carlos Reutemann did get elected twice as governor of the Santa Fe province in his native Argentina and went on to become a national senator. When he was asked to run for the presidency, Reutemann declined.
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