Viswa Vanapalli
Formula 1 has enthralled motorsport fans for many years now, and with Netflix’s ‘Formula 1: Drive to Survive’, the sport has reached new levels of popularity. The fourth season of the docuseries chronicles how the drivers and teams battled it out in 2021. The shakeup at Williams Racing is among the significant storylines, with the team being sold to new owners. Jost Capito, who became the CEO of Williams Racing and eventually the team principal, has been instrumental to their upward trajectory. So, if you’re curious to find out more about him, we’ve got you covered.
Who is Jost Capito?
Jost has a wealth of experience in motorsport, which would stand him in good stead as the CEO and team principal of Williams. In 1985, he worked on the team that won the truck class of the Paris-Dakar rally, and about four years later, Jost worked in Porsche’s racing department. He is perhaps best known as the team director at Volkswagen in the World Rally Championship beginning in 2012.
The team won many consecutive drivers’ and constructors’ championships, considered one of the most dominant stretches in the sport. Jost also had prior experience in Formula 1; he worked with Sauber F1 in an executive capacity in 1996. Later, Jost was appointed the CEO of McLaren Racing in 2016 but held the job only for around four to five months before an internal shakeup led to Zak Brown taking up the mantle.
In August 2020, Williams Racing was acquired by Dorilton Capital, and they hired Jost as the CEO in December of the same year. About six months later, he was appointed the team principal as well. Regarding his involvement with Williams, he said, “The long history was a big part of it. And the fact that Williams had been so successful but was now having hard times. I like that they had never changed the name and didn’t intend to now. I had been a Williams fan since I was five or six.”
Where is Jost Capito Now?
Jost took over a struggling Williams team who scored no points in 2020. The beginning of a turnaround was evident when they scored 23 points the following year. Jost also believed the storied team would get back to its winning ways soon, adding, “I would never take a job like this unless I believe it. That’s why I declined certain job offers in the past. Now I believe we have a realistic chance.” They are poised to do so with a new driver pairing after George Russell moved to Mercedes, with Alexander Albon now racing for Williams along with Nicholas Latifi. Jost is based out of Munich, Germany, and enjoys motorbike riding in his free time.
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