Claire Williams reveals she rejected offer to stay at F1 team

Willams deputy team principal Claire Williams has revealed she turned down offers to stay with the team after this weekend's Italian Grand Prix.

The team was sold to US-based firm Dorilton Capital last month, with the announcement being made on Thursday that the Williams family are to step away from the team at the end of the weekend in Monza.

On Thursday James Matthews was announced as part of the new board of directors at Williams alongside Dorilton's Matthew Savage and Darren Fultz.

Speaking about the announcement on Friday, Williams confirmed that she was not forced out by the team's new owners, who rather inteneded for her to stay but she felt the time was right to step back.

“There were a lot of rumours swirling around in Spa about my tenure within the team,” Williams said. 

“Dorilton, I’d like to make it clear, wanted me to stay. This was my decision. I felt that it was the right choice for me to step away.

“This is obviously going to be my last race weekend but I am going to be working a few days a week over the course of the next few weeks in order to hand over, in order to talk to Dorilton about the team and the inner workings of the team and the expertise that they need to come in.

“Obviously they’re in the business already, they’re doing their due diligence, they’re reviewing the capabilities and they’re looking at what they can do in order to invest into the business. And I will be helping them with that to advise that over the coming weeks.”

Williams also expressed her gratitude towards the paddock and the team's fans after making the announcement on Thursday.

“I would just like to say an enormous thank you for all the support that we have received since making the announcement. I think we felt quite overwhelmed by it," Williams added.

“Williams has obviously contributed, I feel a huge amount, to Formula 1. Certainly the legacy that Frank and Patrick [Head] leave behind, I think it’s nothing short of extraordinary what they have managed to achieve.

“But not just the support that we’ve received in the paddock that we are enormously grateful for, but also the support that we’ve received from our fans. We have some of the best fans out there and yesterday they were contacting us in their t