Frank Williams once turned down signing 21-win F1 driver as he didn’t believe Williams were ‘ready’ for him

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Williams Racing enter the 2025 Formula 1 season with plenty of optimism for the future but with a worrying trend developing when you look at their recent results.

The last time Williams finished in the top half of the constructors’ championship was in 2017 when Lance Stroll and Felipe Massa drove for the team.

The manufacturer’s last win came in 2012 when Pastor Maldonado won the Spanish Grand Prix and while the Venezuelan was a strong qualifier, he didn’t have the consistency to deliver those results regularly.

Since then, Williams have struggled with funding and the level of the drivers racing for them hasn’t always been at the level required to be competitive in Formula 1.

Robert Kubica called his return to F1 with Williams a mistake and while his teammate at the time George Russell has gone on to great things at Mercedes, he was too inexperienced to help the failing team back in 2019.

Alex Albon has given Williams hope in recent years and alongside Carlos Sainz, team principal James Vowles has assembled their strongest line-up in over a decade.

However, back in the days of Frank Williams, the team were in a much stronger position and his son Jonathan – speaking on the Autosport Podcast – has shared one particularly impressive driver that he turned down in 2012 for a peculiar reason.

Williams didn’t sign Kimi Raikkonen as they were worried they weren’t ‘ready’ for him

Williams was talking about the team’s driver line-up in the early 2010s and revealed: “A one point in the early autumn of 2011, I think we were literally at the eleventh hour with Kimi Raikkonen coming in.

“And I’ve got I’ve got a mutual friend who is very close with Kimi, and he called me and said Kimi’s just called me and said he’s your driver next year.

“And I was like, yeah, I think it’s getting pretty close. And I was told the reason why Williams backed out at the last minute was that Adam Parr told me that we don’t think that we’re quite ready for a driver of that calibre yet, which probably shows a little bit of inexperience when it comes to making racing decisions, because you get what you can get.

“If your resources are weak over here, take the big pile of resources over here.

READ MORE: Why Kimi Raikkonen was ‘very happy’ when he discovered Ferrari were cancelling his contract early

“I think had Kimmy been in that [car] too… I mean, I think Pastor, as well as his stunning weekend in Barcelona, he had three or four other top-three qualifyings. Front row in Singapore, Abu Dhabi, top three, third on the grid in Valencia and should have finished third.

“But, unfortunately, Lewis was a bit of a red rag to a bull with Pastor. They’d had some history in 2011.

“And I think the last lap fight with Lewis for that last podium in Valencia. Yeah, Pastor was always going to give as good as he got. And they both went off, unfortunately.”

Would signing Kimi Raikkonen for the 2012 Formula 1 season have been the right decision for Williams?

Kimi Raikkonen had an incredible F1 career, winning 21 Grand Prix and the 2007 championship before retiring at the end of 2021 with more than 100 podiums to his name.

Raikkonen had walked away from Formula 1 at the end of the 2009 season and after three seasons racing in the World Rally Championship, he decided to return in 2012 with Lotus.

He finished third in the drivers’ championship that year, winning the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and demolishing Maldonado and Williams teammate Bruno Senna’s points tallies.

READ MORE: All to know about Williams Racing from team principal to Mercedes ties

While Williams’ car wasn’t at the same level as Lotus’ that year, having Raikkonen in the car would have been an immediate upgrade on either driver.

Senna was moved on for another Finn – Valtteri Bottas – in 2013, while Maldonado didn’t last much longer, Felipe Massa taking his seat the following year.

Either driver would have been a fantastic teammate for Raikkonen, but it’s a case of another opportunity Williams missed out on.