Speedcafe can reveal 100,000,000 shares with a nominal value of AUD $1.95 (£1) were sold on October 11, amounting to a capital injection worth AUD $195 million (£100m).
The additional capital for Williams is a logical move given its position and the surging market value of teams.
Though Forbes valued the squad as the least valuable of the 10 teams on the F1 grid in June last year, it was still valued at AUD $1.09 billion (USD $750m).
The latest injection therefore represents less than 20 percent of that figure (which is likely to have only increased over the past 12 months).
“These filings once again demonstrate the committed long-term support of our owners Dorilton Capital, who are providing the investment required to move Williams Racing up the grid,” a Williams spokesperson told Speedcafe.
“Our continued investment in people, processes, technology and infrastructure, along with our bold ambition and rich heritage, is what has attracted Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz to commit their futures to the team and has led to a host of highly-talented and experienced people from across the paddock to join our mission.”
Dorilton Capital acquired the Williams squad in August 2020 for a reported AUD $300 million (USD $200m/£152m).
Since then, it has routinely injected additional capital, including AUD $127.1 million (£65.4m) before the end of 2020 and AUD $205.95 million (£106m) across the three-year period ending in 2023.
The AUD $195 million injection, however, marks the biggest single instalment since Dorilton’s takeover and takes its total outlay to AUD $826.7 million (USD $552.4m).
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Williams recently posted increased losses in its 2023 accounts, with a post-tax deficit of AUD $164 million (£84.2m)—an increase from AUD $34.9 million (£17.9 m) in 2022.
“Whilst losses have increased compared with 2022, this is in line with expectations and the Company’s strategy to continue investing in all areas of the business to drive both on-track and commercial performance in pursuit of success in the medium and long-term,” its strategic report noted.
The squad has made no secret of its efforts towards longer-term success.
James Vowles took the reins at Grove as team principal at the beginning of last year and has worked to bring the squads facilities and practices up to modern F1 standard.
That included introducing systems to replace fundamental issues such as a spreadsheet that had been used to track car components and build information.
“The team has, over the last 15 years, been through a tremendous amount of difficulty, financially and otherwise, and it’s survived,” Vowles said last March.
“But it is just survival compared to other organisations that have had finance.
“That’s the luxury I had prior to joining, and as a result of that you have the stark differences between where we are today, and where we need to be in the future.”
Exactly how the latest injection will be utilised is unclear as F1’s financial regulations place limits on capital expenditure.
Williams sits eighth in this year’s constructors’ championship with 17 points; it finished seventh in last year’s competition with 28 points having been last in the standings the year before.
Prize money payments in F1 are mad a year in arrears, meaning the squad last year received income based on its 2022 results – hence its income from the commercial rights holder dropped.
It’s upturn in performance last year will therefore see improved income this year, though that revenue will drop marginally for 2026 (though it is based on F1’s earnings).