14/12/2022
NEWS STORY
Williams has announced that team principal, Jost Capito is "stepping aside", while technical director FX Demaison is also leaving the team.
"It has been a huge privilege to lead Williams for the last two seasons and to lay the foundations for the turnaround of this great team," said Capito in a brief statement.
"I look forward to watching the team as it continues on its path to future success."
"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," added Matthew Savage, the chairman of owners Dorilton Capital. "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.
"We would also like to thank FX for his contribution and wish him all the best for his future as he moves on.
While Williams will announce its new team principal and technical director in due course...
Capito joined Williams in December 2020. After 5 years at BMW he joined Porsche to manage its racing programs before moving to Sauber in 1996 as part of their executive committee. He subsequently joined Ford in 2001, where he spent an extensive amount of time as its Europe's Motorsport Director working in various categories from Formula Ford up to F1 with Jordan and the World Rally Championship for the American manufacturer. He enjoyed great success in this role having won the WRC manufacturers' titles in both 2006 and 2007.
In 2012 he joined Volkswagen as Motorsport Director and led the German marque to a period of dominance culminating in consecutive Drivers' and Constructors' World Rally Championship titles over four years.
After a brief stint at McLaren, in 2016 he was chosen to lead Volkswagen R GmbH, the department in charge of the company's performance cars.
Demaison is another former Volkswagen man, having spent the last decade working on the ID.R electric race car, that achieved multiple records at Pikes Peak and the Nurburgring.
He was also responsible for the dominant Polo R WRC, which won all three titles in the World Rally Championship four times in a row from 2013 to 2016.
During his career he worked with both Renault and Peugeot in F1, Touring Car and World Rally projects before being appointed Chief Rally Engineer for the Subaru World Rally team.
He joined Volkswagen Motorsport in 2011, before becoming technical director with overall responsibility for all of the brand's motorsport projects in 2016.
In 2026, Volkswagen-owned Audi will enter F1.