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Claire Williams: No concerns over F1 racing budget for 2020

Claire Williams: "No concerns over F1 racing budget for 2020"

18-01-2020 13:43
2

Claire Williams has "no concerns" over the amount of money available to the Williams F1 team for the 2020 season. The British team's budget lies heavily on sponsorship which she admits isn't easy to obtain. 

Williams have lost a number of sponsors over the last two seasons. Both Martini and PKN Orlen have walked away in the last 18 months which has left a big hole in a team which relies heavily on this type of income. This hole has somewhat been filled by Lavazza who came in with new driver Nicholas Latifi. 

No worries over the budget

Speaking in Tel Aviv at a team event where they announced the signing of test driver Roy Nissany, Williams confirmed she has no worries over the current budget. 

"Sponsorship is hard, it isn't easy. We all know that and I don't think any team is finding the sponsorship market in F1 very easy. Our business model actually relies heavily on sponsorship. and it's never easy. It hasn't been for the past decades, but we still managed to find a healthy racing budget with which to do what we need to do over the course of the year," she said. 

"We have that going into this year. Obviously, as you all know, we sold a majority stake in Advanced Engineering, the proceeds of which come into the F1 team, in order to bolster the budget as well. So I have no concerns over the racing budget for 2020."