Claire Williams names the ‘A-star’ F1 driver she blocked from leaving Williams for years, ‘he wanted to go…’

Williams Racing are enjoying a phenomenal start to the 2025 Formula 1 season with Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz impressing during the first six Grand Prix of the year.

Alex Albon is in the form of his life according to Martin Brundle, and currently sits in the top eight of the drivers’ championship.

Carlos Sainz has needed time to adjust at Williams, but he impressed in Saudi Arabia by finishing ahead of his new teammate for the first time.

However, before Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz, Williams haven’t had the easiest decade in the sport.

Since 2018, Williams have finished 10th in the constructors’ championship on four occasions, more than any other team.

They were bought out by the Dorilton Capital group halfway through the 2020 season, with Claire Williams stepping aside in her role as team principal a few races later.

While she oversaw some highs and lows during her time in charge of the team her father Sir Frank Williams started, there was one driver who she worked particularly hard not to lose.

READ MORE: All to know about Williams Racing from team principal to Mercedes ties

Claire Williams ‘hated’ not being able to let George Russell leave Williams

Williams was a guest on the Beyond The Grid Podcast and spoke about leading the team during one of their more recent low points.

George Russell was on loan from Mercedes at the time having won the Formula 2 championship in 2018, but he failed to score a point during his first two years with the team.

Talking about the situation, Williams said, “For the drivers, when they’re not in the office day to day, they can’t see everything.

“And you’re asking them to do what you’re asking them to do. It must have been so hard for George, Nicholas [Latifi], all those guys that still gave it their all, particularly for someone like George when he wanted to go to Mercedes in that last couple of years, probably, and I couldn’t let him go.

“And I will forever, I hated that, it makes me upset to think about it.

“I needed him. I needed him, I felt more than Mercedes and he was in contract.

“If I let him go, what message would that have sent? What would that have done to my team if I’d let George go?

“He was one of the greatest things that we had at Williams. And equally, if I’m honest at the time, and it’s not nice ever talking about drivers as a commodity, they are not.

“George was incredibly important to me. But when you go into a negotiation with a team like Mercedes and they’re not offering you what they should be for your, ace, who is an A-star driver, not just your A-star driver, then why would you just let him go?

“What kind of team principal would I have been if I’d have just let George go because Mercedes said we want George now? That’s not how it works.”

READ MORE: Mercedes driver George Russell’s life outside F1 from net worth to height

Toto Wolff’s regret about letting George Russell join Williams

Russell had to watch from afar as Lewis Hamilton won his most recent championships alongside Valtteri Bottas at Mercedes while he struggled to get out of Q1 every week for Williams.

His first teammate Robert Kubica regretted joining Williams such was the car’s deficit to the rest of the field, and despite being outclassed by Russell in their year together, the Pole scored the team’s only point in 2019.

Russell then proved to be several steps above Nicholas Latifi and by the time he finally moved on to race for Mercedes, the Canadian’s F1 career was already over.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff regretted keeping Russell at Williams for so long, but it’s understandable why Claire Williams had no interest in letting him go.

He’s having arguably his strongest season in F1 this year, but the Silver Arrows are just a step behind McLaren right now, otherwise he would be a contender for the drivers’ championship.