Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsWilliams

Williams posts £34m loss for 2014

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Williams has posted a £34.3million loss in 2014, with the F1 arm losing £42.5m due to poor on-track performance the year before.

In the latest annual results for the year ending December 2014, Williams posted the substantial losses which it says were due to continuing on-track struggles which meant it then "embarked on a turnaround strategy to reinvigorate the performance of the Formula One team". Having been ninth in the standings in 2013, the team made a significant improvement and finished third in the constructors' championship last year.

Mike O'Driscoll, Group Chief Executive Officer, said Williams had needed to invest following its poor on-track results but has already seen the benefits.

"The decision to invest in the team has been more than validated, with a third place finish in the 2014 Constructors' Championship, up from ninth in 2013," O'Driscoll said. "Mid-way through 2013 we set out on an ambitious turnaround strategy to reinvigorate the Formula One team, create a strong and profitable Advanced Engineering business, and divest non-core activities. In 2014 we made very good progress against those objectives, investing significantly in people, facilities, and technology which we believe will provide a solid foundation for the future.

"The Formula One team's leadership and structure was thoroughly overhauled, with the singular objective of reversing a decade of deteriorating performance. As a consequence of our actions we made a significant improvement in our on-track performance in 2014, which has been sustained into 2015. Our Advanced Engineering activities were also consolidated as we relocated operations into a new facility at our Grove HQ. We have put a new and experienced leadership team in place across the organization, and are now well placed to grow in the years ahead.

"The financial performance of the Group in 2014 reflected the poor on-track results of the prior three years, which resulted in a marked deterioration in commercial rights and sponsorship income. Last year was also adversely impacted by the costs of relocating our Advanced Engineering activities. Our much improved performance in the 2014 Championship will be seen in higher commercial rights and sponsorship income in 2015, coupled with improved performance from our Advanced Engineering division. Our ambition in 2015 is to consolidate the progress we made last year, continue building the necessary foundations for future sporting and commercial success, and consequently to materially improve our financial results for the coming years."

Click here to see how each team has performed this season compared to the first four races of 2014

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.