more depressing news for us girlies who love f1, because of course.
claudia schwarz, the former chief marketing officer at williams, says she was fired in november 2022 after raising concerns about sexism and racism at the team. then, on top of losing her job, williams never even paid her severance package.
the parent company, dorilton, didn't just argue against her claims. they went full sexism as a time honoured strategy to discredit women and painted claudia as a cartoon villain, saying she slept her way to the top and used a secret relationship with the then ceo to steal $6.9 million. because when a woman is successful in f1, the only explanation is she fucked a man, not that she's good at her job. (i want to note that the team principal who hired her, jost capito, says the allegations against her are complete nonsense.)
business f1 magazine, an officially licensed f1 media outlet, ran an article headlined, "a vixen who infiltrated williams." gag. gag. gaggggg. they didn't even pretend they were doing, yah know, journalism. they went straight to women are evil fucking sluts who eat men like air. the article is just as putrid as the headline. claudia says dorilton were behind the hit piece and yep, the article lines up a little too neatly with the sexist allegations dorilton are levelling against her.
then it gets batman-y in the sense a reclusive billionaire enters the picture. his name is peter du putron and he has public ties to conservative politics. claudia's allegations against him are chewy in the worst way; she says that he owns williams, that he uses the team for tax dodging, and that he's racist af. allegedly he threw a tantrum when black celebrities were hosted by williams hospitality. she also says peter was a sooky lah lah and said no when she wanted williams to join lewis hamilton's diversity commission.
peter tried telling the courts he's just a "passive" investor, yet there is evidence williams staff were made to call him "our dear leader." which. ugh. why are men. good news though: the court has ruled peter is involved in williams management and ordered his name should no longer be redacted from filings. hence the guardian article covering his role in this.
claudia's position is that her name has been dragged through the mud and her career is over, but she's choosing to fight the f1's boys' club because she wants to be a good role model for her teenage son. go claudia!
so. bleak. more rot in the house of f1. and more issues for williams.
the guardian article is here.