Jost Capito: Williams chief executive to leave after two years in charge

Jost Capito took up the role of Williams team principal in December 2020

Chief executive officer and team principal Jost Capito is to leave Williams after two years in charge.

The 64-year-old former car industry executive joined the team in December 2020, months after it was bought by investment group Dorilton Capital.

Frenchman Francois-Xavier Demaison, who was brought in as Williams’ technical director by Capito in early 2021, is also leaving his job.

No reason for Capito’s sudden departure was given by Williams.

Dorilton Capital chairman Matthew Savage said in a statement: “We would like to thank Jost for his hard work and dedication as we embarked on a major transformation process to begin the journey of reviving Williams Racing.

“We’re grateful that Jost postponed his planned retirement to take on this challenge and now he will pass the reins on for the next part of this staged process.”

Capito said in the same statement: “It has been a huge privilege to lead Williams Racing for the last two seasons and to lay the foundations for the turnaround of this great team.”

Dorilton bought Williams from the family of the team’s late founder Sir Frank Williams in the summer of 2020, with the aim of returning them to competitiveness after a slump in form.

It recruited Capito from the Volkswagen Group at the end of a 2020 season in which the team finished last in the championship for the third consecutive year.

The team improved in 2021, to finish eighth, their best result since 2017.

That was thanks in large part to George Russell’s stunning performance at the Belgian Grand Prix, when he qualified the Williams second in wet weather. He was classified in the same place in the race, which was called off without any racing laps taking place because of poor weather.

Russell and Nicholas Latifi also took four other points finishes in 2021, finishing the season with 23 points and ahead of Alfa Romeo and Haas.

Williams were unable to keep up that momentum into 2022, which saw F1 introduce a major set of rule changes aimed at making the racing closer and bringing the field closer together.

Their car was the slowest in the field and although British-born Thai Alex Albon impressed as Russell’s replacement, Williams slumped to last place again, with only eight points.

On raw qualifying pace, the Williams was more than 0.3 seconds a lap on average slower than the next slowest car over the 2022 season.

Dorilton is said by a source close to the team to have decided in the summer not to renew Capito’s contract and to look elsewhere for a team principal.

The outfit now also need to source a new technical director to lead their design group.

Albon signed a new two-year contract for 2023 and 2024 and he has been joined at the team for 2023 by American Logan Sargent.

Capito revived Albon’s career by choosing to give him a seat at Williams after he had been demoted to reserve driver by Red Bull after two seasons with their teams.

Albon paid tribute to Capito following news of his former boss’s departure, writing on Twitter: “We only had one year working together but in that time you were not just a team principal but also a great friend. Thank you Jost for your faith in me this year and all the support that that came with.”