Vowles “happy” to sacrifice seventh to improve Williams’ long-term chance of success

Williams team principal James Vowles is prepared to risk losing seventh in the constructors championship in 2023 to improve the team’s future prospects.

Vowles joined Williams as its new team principal at the start of the season, leaving multiple world champions Mercedes for the team that finished last in the standings.

Williams currently sit seventh in the constructors’ championship on 28 points with two rounds remaining, seven points ahead of AlphaTauri. However, the Red Bull junior team have out-scored Williams by 16 points to seven over the last four rounds of the season.

Although holding onto seventh place would be Williams’ best finish since 2017, Vowles admitted that the team have long since switched focus onto their 2024 car rather than pursuing final upgrades for their FW45.

“We stopped work on this year’s car many, many months ago,” Vowles said in a video on Williams’ website. “That may mean that we are putting the seventh place in the constructors championship at risk. Even so, I’m very happy with the decision we made.”

The decision to cease development on their 2023 car was driven by a desire to build Williams back up into being a contender higher up the order, Vowles explained.

“Our journey isn’t one about whether we finish seventh or eighth in 2023 – it’s one of how do we move this team back to the front,” he said.

“What you’re trying to balance in tandem is updates in the background, systems and structures, next year’s car, the 2026 car. Simply, you can’t put all of those into the same sphere and hope you come out with success in all of them. We want to make a step forward in ’24. We want to make a step forward in ’25 and ’26 – that will take time to put in place properly. You have to go through transformation and I’d much rather invest everything in that at the cost of updates this year.”

Although Vowles recognises the threat from AlphaTauri, he believes that even if the team fall to eighth or lower by the end of the season, Williams are taking the right approach.

“I don’t want to finish eighth in this year’s championship and we will fight with everything we have until the chequered flag falls in Abu Dhabi to maintain that seventh place,” Vowles insisted.

“But I’m also conscious that we’re asking our race team and drivers to do this with one hand behind their back – that’s okay. I’m still confident the step on what we’re doing and the decisions we’ve made will still lead to long-term success over short-term gain.”

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