Williams 'not out of woods', says team boss Vowles

Team principal James Vowles says Williams are "not out of the woods" despite an upturn in form in recent races.

Williams, who finished seventh in the constructors' championship in 2023, had a difficult start to the season, scoring points only twice in the first 15 grands prix.

Their problems were a consequence of Vowles' decision to "break so many systems" that had been in place at the team, to try to improve their performance after years of underachievement.

Since an upgrade was put on the car at the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August, Williams drivers Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto have scored points three times in three races and quadrupled the team's previous tally.

Vowles said: "Are we past the worst of it? Yes. Are we out of the woods? No.

"This isn't success today. It's just better than where we were before. Success is really being at the sharp end of the grid and we are nowhere near the end of that journey. We’re really starting it, I'm afraid.

"But I would also say that everything we have gone through has built a set of foundations that mean we won't go back there again."

Williams' upturn in form has led to a seventh place for Albon in Azerbaijan and a ninth in Italy, and an eighth in Baku for Colapinto, who replaced Logan Sergeant when the American was sacked after the Dutch race for lack of pace and too many accidents.

At the start of the season the team were short of parts as a result of structural and operational changes at the factory that delayed the car-build process, and a series of accidents for Albon and Sargeant.

Vowles says: "A disaster would be a strong word but an adequate word for describing where we were. We weren't scoring points. We moved backwards relative to our position in 2023.

"We did not do a good enough job. I knew there were risks involved. But we are here to develop our journey in the way we are not going to make baby steps any more. We are going to make large leaps and bounds and we are going to trip ourselves up on the way."

The biggest issue slowing Williams early this year was that the car was overweight, as a result of compromise car-build decisions that had to be made over the winter because of the impact of the changes being imposed on the team.

"The main thing is that the set of decisions that led to us being in that awkward situation at the beginning of the year are the same set of decisions that led us to where we are today, which is making sure we're challenging everything in the status quo, making sure we are developing the car at a scale we haven't done previously," Vowles said.

"So it would be surprising to say that where we are today is no different to where we were in the winter in of decision-making, it's just the set of outcomes are different as well.

"The car is competitive. It has been all season long, it's just the weight hid it. A lot of [the progress] is weight being taken out of the car. The second is, the way we are developing the car aerodynamically, I can't tell you for a fact is different to other teams up and down the grid, but what I can say to you is when we add performance to the car, it is translating."

A key influence in Williams' recent turnaround is the decision to sack Sargeant and employ Colapinto, a member of the Williams driver development programme who previously had been having a decent but not outstanding season in Formula 2.

Vowles had considered replacing Sargeant after an unconvincing debut season in 2023, but gave him a second chance.

But after lagging behind Albon all year, a poor weekend in Zandvoort proved the final straw. Sargeant crashed the car in free practice having put a wheel on wet grass on the straight, writing off all its upgrades, and then was uncompetitive in a rebuilt car in the race.

Vowles said that Sargeant had been warned "multiple times" not to damage the car before his crash.

"First and foremost, I think rookies get a hard time in our sport," Vowles said. "They're very easily judged by individuals.

"My job in all this, as it is with every team member, is for me to have their back so they can perform at the absolute best they can. And I will be the last person pushing them down. I'll make a decision when you absolutely categorically have to make a decision.

"Once we had delivered a car to what I consider is a good-enough standard in F1, now you look to make sure that we have other elements that we change. And that case in point was Logan.

"Logan was given an opportunity with all the updates, with the clear brief that went into it. Both drivers had that brief. But at the point where it was very abundantly clear to me that we are not going to hit our targets this year, that's the point at which I’m OK to make a change."

Vowles' decision to promote 21-year-old Colapinto was questioned in some quarters, but he says he always believed the Argentine would vindicate it.

"There is a reason why we put him in the car," Vowles said.

"It was based off tens of thousands of simulator kilometres. It was based off a decision actually made much earlier to put him in the car (in practice at) at Silverstone, and based on the fact he, the right word, is he shone.

"And his attitude. Speak to him in the car and he's talking like you and I are talking now. There is zero pressure of the world on his shoulders."

Vowles does say that Colapinto's consistency has surprised him - he says he expected him to be close to Albon when he made his debut at Monza, but that he would "step back just a little bit" in Baku and Singapore before "flying across" the forthcoming events in the US, Mexico and Brazil.

He says the fact Colapinto was so competitive with Albon in Azerbaijan and Singapore was "impressive".

William cannot give Colapinto a race seat next year because they have already signed Carlos Sainz from Ferrari to partner Albon.

Vowles is trying to get his protege a seat at Sauber, which is morphing into Audi in 2026, and said: "What I can say is should he not get a drive, he'll be kept very close to us, run in our historic car, keep him up to speed. We'll have the best reserve driver on the grid while we build him into a situation for the future."

When Williams announced they had signed Sainz, Vowles said he believed he now had the best driver line-up on the grid.

The claim raised eyebrows, considering that next year Ferrari have seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, who has proved superior to Sainz in their four years as team-mates. A case could also be made for Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri at McLaren, while Red Bull have the sport's acknowledged current number one in Max Verstappen.

How does Vowles justify that statement?

"I will put it into the context of, what do we need here">