{"id":30400,"date":"2025-07-29T16:47:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T16:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/30400\/"},"modified":"2025-07-29T16:47:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T16:47:09","slug":"williams-appoints-sauber-coo-as-chief-operations-director-before-f1-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/30400\/","title":{"rendered":"Williams appoints Sauber COO as chief operations director before F1 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Williams<\/a> has appointed Formula 1 stalwart Axel Kruse as its chief operations director, ending his 15-year stint with the rival Sauber<\/a> squad.<\/p>\n

Kruse was the Swiss outfit\u2019s chief operating officer, but will now start his new role on 1 September replacing Fred Brousseau, who is set to return to his native Canada.<\/p>\n

This will not be Kruse’s first association with Williams as he was previously a BMW engineer when the German marque powered the team\u2019s cars from 2000 to 2005 – which included finishing second in the 2002 and 2003 constructors’ standings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am thrilled to be joining Williams Racing and can\u2019t wait to get started,\u201d said Kruse.<\/p>\n

\u201cWilliams is an iconic Formula 1 team with huge ambition and momentum, and I look forward to working with everyone at Grove to deliver success on track.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a young engineer I saw first-hand the professionalism and passion at the team as we finished second in the constructors\u2019 championship \u2013 there is unfinished business, and the target must be to finish first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams has endured a tough spell in recent years, finishing last in the teams’ table in 2022 for example, but the British outfit has progressed in 2025 with the squad currently fifth in the championship after 13 rounds.<\/p>\n

\"Frederic <\/p>\n

Frederic Brousseau, Williams Chief Operating Officer<\/p>\n

Photo by: Williams<\/p>\n

\u201cI am excited to welcome Axel to Williams Racing as we continue to invest in the people, technology and infrastructure needed to achieve our goal of returning to the front of the grid,\u201d said team boss James Vowles.<\/p>\n

\u201cAxel is the latest top talent to join us from within the F1 paddock and will continue the important work started by Fred to make our operations truly championship-level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to thank Fred for everything he has done, and we all wish him well as he returns home to Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

This means Brousseau will depart Williams after joining in April 2023, following a 26-year career with aerospace giant Pratt and Whitney.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving actively embarked on our transformation journey over the past two years, we\u2019re now starting to see clear signs of progress – both from a business results and track performance perspective,\u201d said Brousseau.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this sustainable positive momentum now in place throughout the organisation, the time feels right for me to return home and begin the next chapter of my journey.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m incredibly proud of what we\u2019ve achieved together and, above all, grateful for the passion and dedication of the people \u2014 they are the true heart of Williams. Being welcomed into this team and the world of Formula 1 has been a genuine privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n

Current Williams design director Matt Harman has also now been promoted to technical director – engineering, having originally joined from Alpine last year.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

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Subscribe to news alerts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Williams has appointed Formula 1 stalwart Axel Kruse as its chief operations director, ending his 15-year stint with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30401,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,814,815,817,813,816,85,819],"class_list":{"0":"post-30400","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-belgian-gp","11":"tag-circuit-de-spa-francorchamps","12":"tag-f1","13":"tag-formula-1","14":"tag-formula1","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-williams"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}