20-Nov-09: Williams Sell a Minority Stake in the Team

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Welcome to F1 Minute for the 20th November 2009.

Williams announced today that they have sold a stake in their team to an Austrian investment company, somewhere between 10 and 49%, which doesn’t really narrow it down. The head of that company Toto Wolff has experience as a rally driver, and will sit on the board of Williams, but Frank Williams is still insistent that he’s in charge and that nothing really changes in the day to day running of the team. Perhaps the key quote for the motivation behind the deal is from Frank: “Certainly he can be very useful in finding sponsors. It’s an area where he can, I’m sure, be very active.”

Elsewhere, Ferrari have confirmed their driver for the upcoming young driver test at Jerez in December. They are giving 20 year old Frenchman Jules Bianchi a chance behind the wheel. Bianchi won the Formula 3 Euro series this year and will be competing in the Macau Grand Prix this weekend. After that, though, he’s looking forward to getting in an F1 car for the first time.

That’s all for now, have a great weekend and I’ll be back on Monday with another F1 Minute.