Jost Capito has expressed his delight that Williams Racing has exceeded their pre-season expectations after an excellent 2021 campaign which saw the team return to the podium after four years away.

Prior to Capito’s appointment as CEO of the team in December of 2020, Williams had just come off the back of one of their most dramatic seasons in Formula 1. The team was already on the back foot before the season’s delayed curtain-raiser in Austria had even begun after terminating its deal with title sponsor ROKiT just days before the opening Practice session had got underway at the Red Bull Ring.

The Williams family then sold the team to investment firm Dorilton Capital in the run-up to the Belgium Grand Prix, with Claire Williams leaving her role as deputy team principal shortly after the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, ending the Williams family’s 43-year involvement with the sport in the process.

Points were also snatched from Williams’s grasp as neither Nicholas Latifi nor George Russell could drag the FW43 into the top 10. Moreover, Russell lost a chance to secure his maiden points in Imola after crashing out of the race during the safety car period.

But fortunes miraculously changed in 2021 as Williams returned to the point-scoring positions, with Russell managing an unexpected second-place finish at the rain-shortened Belgium Grand Prix whilst Latifi finally broke his points duck with a best finish of seventh in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Russell and Latifi’s efforts helped Williams move off the foot of the constructors' table, with the team moving up to eighth in the table and crucially ahead of Alfa Romeo and Haas.

When reflecting on the 2021 season, Capito said that his highlights were Russell's second place at Spa and the double points finish in Budapest, which ended Williams' two-year point drought.

“I would say from the development of the team, it was as I hoped for and expected, From the points and the positions, it has exceeded the expectations, from the very little development that was possible from last year to this year and under the Covid circumstances, it was even more difficult.  Then finishing eighth, it’s overachieving our objectives from the beginning of the season.”

“Personal highlights are Budapest, the first point-score after a long time for the team, and then the podium in Spa.  These were also key moments for the team to find the trust back, find the motivation back, and to push even harder to prove that if we do courageous decisions, they can pay off. We don’t have to wait until other decisions and then follow, we are good enough to do our own decisions, and they can be good. I think those two races have boosted the team’s self-confidence.”

In spite of these achievements, Capito remains admit that the team still has a lot of work to do if they want to return to the front of the grid. Williams will also have to do it without Russell, who moves to Mercedes for 2022, with Red Bull's reserve driver Alex Albon replacing the young Brit after spending a year on the sidelines.

“I am satisfied with where the team is now, with the structure we have in place, with the processes we have in place; it’s not all done, it’s by far not all done. But as we know, to get a team back to the top, it takes a longer time.”

“You can’t have miracles, it’s hard work, dedication, it’s teamwork and a big team effort. “It’s not done in one year but I believe we are on track and we’ve established a mentality of change so that change is accepted, that people try to get better every day. I think that mentality will help us to move forward.”