Claire Williams 'delighted' after latest Liberty briefing

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Claire Williams says that she's feeling 'extremely positive' after hearing Formula One Management's latest plans for the future of the sport.

"I came back thinking let’s crack open some champagne!," she enthused. "I’m personally delighted at the proposals they laid down."

Formula 1's new commercial rights holders Liberty Media held a briefing for team principals in Bahrain on Friday morning to flesh out their blueprints for the sport's future from 2021.

Among the contentious issues covered were F1's technical direction, the introduction of budget caps, and the future share-out of prize money.

A press release was issued after the meeting. However it gave little in the way of new details. Team bosses have been wary of revealing too much to the media, although Christian Horner and Eric Boullier have been cautiously welcoming.

However the deputy team principal of Williams F1 could hardly contain her excitement and enthusiasm for what she had heard.

"I was extremely positive about today’s meeting," Claire Williams told the FIA press conference after Free Practice 1. "We hoped for change under our new management, and today they’ve presented change.

"Based on what they’ve presented, it was an extremely good day for a team like ours.

"I’m sure some people aren’t going to be very happy," she admitted. "There’s always going to be winners and losers in this situation. Sometimes it’s about compromise if we’re to protect the future health of this sport.

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"I can’t comment on Ferrari’s feelings around the proposals," she added. "All I can comment on are our team's.

"If we can get these new regulations, and if FOM do everything that they presented this morning, then from our perspective I know that Williams’ future is safe.

"Everything that they presented from revenue redistribution to cost cap is absolutely everything we want to see from 2021 and beyond."

Williams admitted that she had been fearing for the privateer team's long-term survival after four decades in the sport.

"If their proposal is blueprinted then it does protect the survival of Williams," she said. "At the end of the day that’s all that matters to me.

"I want our team to be competing - and hopefully winning - in this sport for the next two, three, four decades.

"Not to say that we were on the brink or anywhere close," she said. "But the way today's sport is structured, and with the financial disparity between teams, Williams' likelihood of survival in the medium- to long-term was bleak."

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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.