Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsWilliams

Williams would have backed Marussia entry

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Claire Williams says she would have voted for Marussia to be allowed to use its 2014 car to race in F1 this year.

A meeting of the Strategy Group - of which Williams is a member - saw a proposal for Marussia (under the name Manor Grand Prix) to race using its 2014 car rejected. Force India was the first team to vote against, which prevented the matter being discussed further as unanimous support is required. However, the Williams deputy team principal says she would have voted in favour of the 2014 Marussia car being used and says her stance is based on wanting to help as many teams as possible race in F1.

"We’ve been very clear on our position around Marussia and their entry: we want a full competitive line-up on the grid next year and we will do anything to support Marussia coming back in," Williams told Sky Sports.

"We made it very clear in the Strategy Group that we would vote for them to be able to use the 2014 chassis this season. Unfortunately it hasn’t happened, but Williams want a competitive line-up on the grid and we want to help the smaller teams.

"And I think we’ve demonstrated that and are always pushing cost control in Formula 1. That’s to save the smaller teams that are really struggling, the likes of Marussia and Caterham, but also the middle teams as well at the moment that are facing some serious issues."

Feature: No place in the playground for minnows Manor

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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.