Claire Williams on why fans are more important than ever in Formula One
Sponsors once knocked on the team's door with big offers, according to Claire.
Poor fan engagement can have a direct impact on car performance in Formula One, according to Claire Williams, former deputy team principal of Williams Racing.
“If they (teams) don’t have the fan engagement, then they don’t bring in the sponsors,” she said on the Business of Sport podcast. “And if they don’t have the sponsors, then you don’t have the budget to go racing.”
Claire, the daughter of Sir Frank Williams, who founded Williams Racing, ran the historic team before it was taken over by American investment firm Dorilton Capital in 2020.
With Williams facing financial difficulties towards the latter years of her tenure, the team focused on fan engagement to help drive revenue.
“It was certainly something that we put a huge focus on when things weren’t going so well just organically from a sponsor traction perspective,” she said.
Turning down $40m in the past
When Sir Frank ran the team in the ’90s and 2000s, sponsors knocked on the team's doors, offering millions.
“You didn’t really need to go out and find your sponsors,” Claire revealed. “They were coming to you and offering $40 million to sponsor your race team, and you were turning them down.”
But why would anyone turn down such a huge amount?
“I found a letter once from my dad to one of the world’s biggest tech companies turning a $40 million offer down for a title sponsor back in the 2000s because he had one for $50 (million),” she recalled.
“I could have only dreamt of those kinds of numbers when I was running the team.”
In the final years of Claire’s tenure, Williams turned into a backmarker team, consistently finishing at the bottom. Williams had to get creative to attract sponsors.
“That’s why we all had to adapt and do things really differently,” she said. “And doing things differently meant opening the doors and welcoming the fan, because the fan is what our partners wanted. They wanted that information, that data that we all know now is so important for businesses.”
Listen to Claire Williams talk about leading the team and business in Formula One on the Business of Sport podcast.
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