london former formula one supremo bernie ecclestone is trying to find a buyer for the oncemighty williams team saying it would be a terrible thing to lose the name from the gridwilliams golden age in the 1980s and 1990s under founder frank is a distant memory in those years nelson piquet nigel mansell and alain prost were among a clutch of world championsbut the last of both their nine constructors titles and seven drivers crowns came in 1997frank williams remains team principal but his daughter claire is responsible for the daytoday running of the teamthe nadir of a steady decline came last year when they registered just one point in the constructors championshiplast week the williams grand prix holdings group reported an adjusted loss of 13 million 16 million for the year ending 2019 and responded to the blow by seeking new investmenta minority or majority stake will be offered to investors along with the option for an outright buyoutecclestone says he is actively seeking a potential buyerwilliams would be a great loss 100 percent he told afp by phone from his home in switzerland i am looking around to find people who could and might be involvedecclestone admits the challenge could be even greater with the financial fallout from covid19 likely to be severeowning a team is a very expensive hobby said the former f1 boss who is expecting his fourth child in the coming weeksthe 89yearold englishman and frank williams who is 78 are old friends having been among the cofounders of the formula one constructors association in 1974ecclestone who transformed the sport into a commercial giant over several decades said the team desperately needed new ownersi hope it is not the end of the williams team he saidit would be the end of an era but i hope that someone who can afford to run the team properly can be found as it is a terrible thing to lose a team like thatit is not thinkable dear old frank had to work so hard to make sure the team competed and that happened and now to see it disappear like that its not goodit is a historic teamecclestone said the management team had found williams senior a hard act to followtrouble was frank was handson in the way he managed the team he saidunfortunately the current management do not have the same status as frank has he could get things donewilliams should make the grid for the austrian grand prix on july 5 the first race of a season truncated by the coronavirus pandemicin an attempt to cut costs the britishbased team furloughed staff while senior executives and their two drivers george russell and nicholas latifi took 20 percent pay cutsthey are desperate for the season to get under way as they need the incomefor the moment there is an eightrace programme planned in europe although ecclestone says he never doubted that could happeni said right at the beginning it is not a difficult job to get