Williams Is Suing a Garage Owner Over a Vanished £1 Million Chassis
The rare FW23 chassis that gave Montoya his first grand prix win has disappeared without a trace from a garage in Telford — and the defence is leaning on a stroke and memory loss.
Some Formula 1 stories never make it to the track — they go straight to London’s High Court instead. That’s exactly where a case is currently unfolding that reads more like a screenplay than a legal filing: Williams Racing is suing a local garage owner over the disappearance — without a trace, without an explanation — of a piece of its own heritage.
The chassis that vanished in 2021
At the centre of the dispute is an extremely rare 2001 FW23 chassis — the car in which Ralf Schumacher took three wins, while teammate Juan Pablo Montoya scored his first-ever grand prix victory. The Grove-based team values this specific example internally at around £750,000, and in 2015 loaned it to Autotech Performance Ltd in Telford for display and promotional purposes.
The arrangement fell apart entirely when Autotech liquidated its assets in the summer of 2021. When Williams went to reclaim the car, it simply wasn’t there.
The allegation: misappropriation through deception
The team is pursuing former Autotech director Peter Thorpe, alleging he misled liquidation assessors by claiming personal ownership of the chassis and removed it from the premises before Williams could intervene. The team’s demands are clear: either the physical return of the FW23, or financial compensation exceeding £1 million — covering both the loss and the accumulated daily rental fees.
A defence built on medical memory loss
Thorpe flatly denies the allegations. He maintains he never claimed personal ownership of the car and has no idea what happened to it after August 2021. The explanation for that gap in his memory? A stroke suffered in October 2018, which reportedly left him with severe cognitive impairment and lasting memory problems.
The defence also disputes the £750,000 valuation itself, arguing the missing chassis was merely an empty display shell with no functioning engine.
A Williams spokesperson declined to comment further on the active litigation, but confirmed the team is trusting the British legal system to bring its property home. The case stands as a reminder that even the quietest corners of Formula 1’s heritage can hide its loudest scandals.
