Jost Capito's shock departure from the Williams Racing setup has left a gap in the team that will need filled rapidly with the 2023 season suddenly fast approaching.
For 2023, the Grove team will run Alexander Albon for a second season, while Logan Sargeant will be a rookie on the grid following his promotion from Formula 2, where he ended the season 3rd behind Theo Pourchaire and champion Felipe Drugovich.
For a new principal, the team will be an attractive prospect with the only way being up after a few years of difficulty for the team.
In this piece, I'll go through 5 possible options for Williams to consider.
1. Cyril Abiteboul
Former Renault F1 boss Abiteboul has what it takes to take a struggling team to a good place.
Following his departure from the Caterham team in 2014, Abiteboul joined Renault and spearheaded their return as constructor and engine supplier in 2016 replacing Lotus.
He took the team, relative newbies to the grid to 9th in his first year, before improving to 6th in 2017, 4th in 2018, before following that up with two 5th place finishes in 2019 and 2020.
📸 Abiteboul oversaw Renault's rise from newbies to midfield leaders.
Abiteboul left Renault at the end of 2020 as they prepared to rebrand to Alpine. He's due to become the Hyundai World Rally Team in 2023, but things always change in this world...
Abiteboul would be a popular choice with fans, due to his love-hate personality and obvious passion for success.
2. Giacomo Ricci
The current team manager of Trident Racing in Formula 2 and 3 would present an interesting option for Williams.
At 37, he'd bring a fresh approach to the team and a strong knowledge of how to help use young drivers to grow the team and to help a manage the progress of the teams current driver line up, as well as the Williams Driver Academy, which currently holds 5 drivers on their books, although that is expected to change.
Over the last two years, Ricci has seen his Trident team provide runners up in the 2021 and 2022 editions of Formula 3 in the shape of Jack Doohan, who impressed in F2 this year, while Zane Maloney, a new signing to the Red Bull Junior Team, was the runner up as a rookie in this year's championship. Meanwhile, in 2021. Trident won the teams championship in F3 in 2021. In F2, Trident have two 9th place finishes in the last 2 years, with Richard Verschoor bringing the team 1 win and 4 podiums in 2022, while Bent Viscaal mustered up 2 podiums in 2021.
📸 Celebrating with F2's Verschoor.
Ricci would be a gamble for Williams, but his fresh approach could be exactly what's needed.
3. Susie Wolff
A former test and reserve driver for the team as well as a being former Team Principal herself in Formula E, with Venturi Racing.
Her appointment would bring an F1 first, a husband and wife as rivals, with husband Toto currently in charge at Mercedes.
With Venturi she oversaw an 8th place finish in 2019, slipping to 10th in 2020 before improving in back to back years, coming 7th in 2021 and 2nd in 2022, before departing the team as they merged with Maserati ahead of the new season.
📸 Wolff with Venturi.
Wolff would be a little bit of a left field choice, but the move does makes some sense too.
4. Rene Rosin
PREMA Racing Team Principal Rene Rosin makes a bit of sense and simultaneously, makes no sense.
Rosin has been with PREMA for years and has overseen a number of young drivers on their way to F1, most recently Logan Sargeant and Oscar Piastri.
📸 Rosin with rapid riser Oscar Piastri.
In charge of PREMA, a team used to winning titles and races regularly, a move to Williams would be a big change, given the teams struggles in recent seasons. However, the opportunity to manage an F1 team is not one that comes up often so the opportunity could be tough to turn down.
Fans would probably greet a decision like choosing Rosin with skepticism, and rightly so but given the chance, Rosin would have to let his work do the talking.
5. Franz Tost
Alpha Tauri team boss Tost is the second longest serving principal after Red Bull's Christian Horner, which suggests he's probably quite happy in his job.
Another left field choice, perhaps Franz feels like change would be a good thing? Tost as been massively praised for his help in the development of young drivers like wolf chanpions Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen, while also overseeing a number of race winning drivers not least ones for his team like Pierre Gasly as well as a vast number of drivers who became F1 regulars like of course, Williams' Alex Albon among others.
On three occasions, Tost has led Alpha Tauri/Toro Rosso to a best finish of 6th in the standings while also managing the team through a number of highs and lows; not least his two wins, with Vettel and Gasly both winning at Monza to take wins for the Faenza outfit.
📸 Gasly wins in Monza. 1 of 2 wins Tost has overseen at the team.
This move would make sense, but I don't imagine it's all that likely to happen.
Those are my five choices for the new boss, who would you pick?
(I know I didn't put Mattia Binotto, I'm 1000% certain it won't be him, and if it does happen to be him, I'll tattoo him on my leg!)
📸 Definitely not Binotto!
📸 Image credits: Sky Sports F1, Formula Motorsport Ltd, Venturi Racing, Alpha Tauri, Williams Racing.
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