Williams and Paddy Lowe have confirmed that he has now officially left his role as chief technical officer with the Formula 1 team.
The 57-year-old had been brought in to the Grove-based outfit in 2017 in the hope that he could help them improve their competitiveness on the back of his work at Mercedes, where he played a part in consecutive title successes in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
However, the Williams car was the slowest in the field in 2018 and it appeared to have deteriorated during pre-season testing which prompted Lowe to take “leave of absence” from his position in March.
And, Lowe has now confirmed that, “after a period of careful reflection, I have reached the decision that I will not return to work at Williams”. Williams also released a statement to confirm that Lowe had stepped down with immediate effect, while deputy team boss Claire Williams said she “understood and respected” his decision.