Williams seeks missing FW23's return in High Court case

Williams is pursuing a claim in Britain's High Court for the return of a missing FW23 or a payment of more than £1 million. Peter Thorpe, a former director and shareholder of Autotech Performance Ltd, is being sued by the team, according to RacingNews365.

Williams's lawyers allege that Thorpe arranged for the car to be removed after telling insolvency practitioners he personally owned it—a claim they say was false. Thorpe disputes the claim and says he never told anyone the car was his because he knew that was untrue.

The FW23 is one of nine examples Williams built. Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya drove the car in 2001; it later joined the team's heritage collection. The report gives an estimated value of £750,000.

Williams lent the car for display in 2015 to Autotech, a garage business in Telford, Shropshire, which is now dissolved following insolvency. Williams's request for its return in 2021 reportedly went unanswered.

Thorpe says he does not know where the car is now and attributes that to poor memory after a stroke. He also says he cannot remember the conversation with the insolvency practitioners. According to his account, the FW23 was still on the premises when he was last there in summer 2021, shortly before Autotech's insolvency.