Williams F1 ex-boss on bringing the team back to the top: "It’s relatively exhausting"

Former Williams team principal Jost Capito reflected on his time at the British team, claiming it was exhausting to try and get the team back to the top of the sport. The German has been replaced by former Mercedes head of strategy James Vowles for the 2023 season.

Capito's departure from the Grove-based team came as a surprise to most in the F1 community. It was initially understood that the German would stay with the team for some more time before calling it quits.

However, the former boss has claimed that he never had plans of sticking around with the heritage team for more than two or three years. This was due to the exhaustion that comes with trying to get the team back to the top. The German also cited the number of races in the modern F1 calendar as a major cause of this exhaustion.

The former Williams boss told AutoBild:

“From the outside, of course, you don’t have that kind of insight. But I originally said that I would do this for two years, possibly a third. But now there are so many races that it’s relatively exhausting. And it simply takes longer than two or three years to bring the team back to the top.”

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George Russell‘s Williams stint helped him beat Lewis Hamilton, feels Mercedes engineer

George Russell's experience with Williams might have helped him adapt better to a struggling Mercedes 2022 challenger, Mercedes' Andrew Shovlin claimed.

Russell was able to beat Lewis Hamilton in the 2022 drivers' championship, immediately proving his worth to the Brackley-based team. The team's trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin reckons the Briton's experience with driving a slower car at Williams was a factor in him adapting so quickly at Mercedes.

The Mercedes W13 was riddled with porpoising, causing the team to lose out on the constructors' title for the first time in eight years. Their poor form also spelled bad news for Hamilton, who was unable to find his footing in the 2022 challenger. Russell was able to score a string of 15 points finishes in the first 16 races, making him one of the most consistent drivers of the year.

The Briton was used to not competing at the top of the field before joining Mercedes, while Hamilton was used to having a fast car at his disposal.

Andrew Shovlin said about George Russell:

"George, having come from Williams, I think his experience there probably put him in good stead to deal with the car we were racing and trying to qualify at the start of the year."

With Mercedes touted to be title contenders this year, it will be interesting to see if Russell can keep up with Lewis Hamilton in 2023.