The iconic F1 team pledges its historic fleet to secure a loan from Canadian tycoon Michael Latifi.
One of the last big names in Formula 1 has been launched a lifeline in the form of a loan of 50 million pounds sterling (56 million euros during the day) by the father of a of its pilots.
The Williams F1 team got the loan from food mogul Michael Latifi – father of new Williams driver Nicholas – by providing not only his seat and racing rights, but also his entire fleet of historic F1 cars.
In the midst of the 2020 F1 season break, and after two years of lean cows on the track, Williams struggled to stay viable in the fight against big-budget teams like Mercedes-Benz and Ferrari, and against operations of “Buy-in” like Haas, who chooses to buy ready-made parts for his racing cars, rather than making them from a blank sheet of paper.
It was this stubborn reluctance to compromise on his old-school builder ideals that put Williams in trouble as the era of hybrid engines advanced and the team collapsed further on. the starting grid, so that the number of sponsors – and their capital – decreased.
And since no race has taken place so far in 2020 and no other race project is planned to support its activities, Claire Williams, the team director and the daughter of the team founder , Frank, was forced to lay off staff and cut pilot and executive salaries by 20%.
It was not enough, and the only way for the team to progress was to turn to Latifi, a wealthy Canadian food mogul, F1 fanatic and 10% shareholder of McLaren.
The relatively small amount will mainly be used to pay off other debts, but if the team does not pay off the loan, Lafiti will take control of the whole team.
Media reports describe the terms of the loan, which uses Williams’ extensive catalog of classic F1 cars as collateral, including versions of title-winning machines like the FW07B, used by Australian Alan Jones to win the team’s first driver and manufacturer championships.
Team headquarters and manufacturing facilities at Grove are also included.
REVEALED: The # F1 cars that Williams has used as security for its £ 50m + loanhttps: //t.co/8n3nsiUs6R pic.twitter.com/RgTqVdCulS
– Formula Money (@FormulaMoney) April 10, 2020
If the team falls into Latifi’s hands, he will join his colleague Lawrence Stroll, a Canadian business tycoon, to become the owner of the team.
Stroll bought the Force India team from Indian businessman Vijay Mallya in 2018, renaming it Racing Point and placing his son Lance in one of the team’s cars.
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