Former Williams driver Jacques Villeneuve has described the British team as "dead" and called the decision to put Claire Williams in charge a "big mistake".
Villeneuve won the 1997 Formula 1 world championship with Williams – their last in the sport to date – and has been in steady decline ever since, finishing fifth last season, but has fallen to tenth and last in 2018 amid struggles to get on top of the design of its FW41, with just one points finish.
Villeneuve says he can't see the team dragging itself out of its current low unless major management changes come into force.
"No," he replied when asked by Autosport if Williams will improve this year. "The team is dead.
"There is no management. There was a choice back then [in 2013], you either put the heiress or the heir [in charge].
"And they put Claire instead of Jonathan – big mistake. Obviously, just look where the team is at now."
Williams' results under Claire, daughter of co-founder Sir Frank Williams, actually improved immediately after her appointment as the team finished third in 2014 and 2015 – though some would claim a Mercedes engine deal struck at the same time was the real reason – before gradually dropping off with fifth in the standings in the following two seasons.
Asked about the team's reliance of pay drivers with little experience and whether that's damaging the results, he said: "If you have two drivers without experience, that won't help. Not in a team like this."
But the Canadian had some sympathy for Sergey Sirotkin, adding: "With Lance [Stroll] there, and the family, the politics, you don't learn anything."
