James Vowles – Syndication Server

‘Tremendous force of nature’ Sainz tops Williams shortlist

Williams team principal James Vowles describes Carlos Sainz as “a tremendous force of nature” as the Spaniard has emerged as a serious option to replace Logan Sargeant. Sainz will be replaced by Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari at the end of this season …

Williams team principal James Vowles describes Carlos Sainz as “a tremendous force of nature” as the Spaniard has emerged as a serious option to replace Logan Sargeant.

Sainz will be replaced by Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari at the end of this season and has yet to commit to a new team, with Audi understood to have made him an offer. While Vowles insists no decision has been made on Sargeant’s future so far, RACER understands the Sainz camp holds significant interest in the Williams project — in part due to the expected strength of the Mercedes power unit — and Vowles views him as one of the best drivers on the grid.

“We have talks with drivers, but it’s important to treat those confidentially,” Vowles told RACER. “I think Carlos is tremendous — he’s an incredible driver. He has won races where others could not, simple as that.

“For years — and I don’t mean months, for years — I think he has been absolutely right up there. If you go all the way back to the Toro Rosso days, he was matching Max [Verstappen]. Go back to McLaren, he’s matching Lando [Norris], there is every reason to believe that he’s a tremendous force of nature, and it would be foolish of any teams not to have him on the agenda.

“And certainly, from our perspective, while I don’t want to confirm who we are talking to, and what we’re talking to, I could certainly say that teams would be foolish not to have him as part of your lineup.”

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Williams have also been linked with the likes of Valtteri Bottas and Andrea Kimi Antonelli if it replaces Sargeant, but RACER understands Sainz is the primary target and Vowles admits his experience would be significant in trying to help the team compete near the front in 2026.

“First of all, my philosophy, generally speaking, is investing in youth. Because I myself was a graduate 30 years ago, and I’ve seen some extraordinary talent come through that way,” he said.

“We have to balance that against where are we in the phase that is Williams today, and what strength do we need as a result of it? And it’s a continual balance that not just myself, other teams are going through as well at the same time.

“Where I think we are, is that having expertise in the car for the next few years alongside Alex [Albon] is going to be a huge strength. Simple as that. That doesn’t mean I’m not open-minded to younger drivers. It just means that as we are today, I think this team is going through a transformation, and when you’re going through that, stability, and individuals that know what excellence looks like, is a huge strength. Alex is clearly one of those, and a second, I think would be a boon.”

With Mercedes likely to promote Antonelli if it can’t attract Verstappen, and with McLaren’s lineup finalized, Williams could have one of the most competitive seats on the grid available in 2026 based on a growing confidence in the next generation of Mercedes power unit. While that makes it attractive to multiple drivers, Vowles also says there have been signs of performance from Sargeant that show it was right to give the Floridian a chance to retain his drive, after Sargeant stated he is “extremely” close to being at the level required.

“I think every weekend, you can see some brilliance from him,” Vowles said of Sargeant. “Imola, the race performance was strong. It was where it needs to be. The converse, though, in qualifying, I needed more from him. You’ve got to make sure that you’re within the track limits, fundamentally. But the pace was there, it was a better position from that perspective.

“So I do agree with him. It’s why I invested in him last year and why I invested in him this year as well. There is a very strong driver in Logan. And what’s more — you’ll know him well enough — there’s no ego that goes with it. It’s just an individual that wants to push the absolute limits.

“He believes in Williams, he believes in us and believes in the strength of the organization. Those are all great things. But is he performant? Yes. Does it have to come together as a complete package? Yes, as well.”

Sargeant seat under threat but future ‘within his hands’ – Vowles

Williams team principal James Vowles has confirmed Logan Sargeant’s future with the team is “at risk” and he has to improve his performances, but insists the door isn’t closed on him retaining his seat. Sargeant is out of contract at the end of the …

Sargeant is out of contract at the end of the season and has struggled to consistently be close to teammate Alex Albon since making his debut for Williams last year, with a best finish this season of 14th. Multiple crashes since the start of 2023 have also increased the pressure on the Floridian, and with Albon committing to a new long-term contract, the focus has been on the likes of Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Valtteri Bottas as potential replacements for Sargeant in the future, with Vowles admitting a change could be on the cards.

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“We’ve had a direct conversation, which is a very hard conversation when you do it,” Vowles told Sky Sports. “But the simple matter of facts are, what I’ve already explained, is that he is at risk. That’s the simple matter of fact behind it.

“He has to perform above where he is. It’s a meritocracy. I’m helping him on that journey. I want him to be successful. But in the meantime, we are talking to a few other drivers because we have to to get our ’25, ’26, ’27 line-up correct.

“We’ll come to you when it’s ready to… I would say a few weeks you will see some potential news in that area.”

However, Vowles clarified he is not currently considering a change of driver line-up during this season, despite asking the FIA if it would permit Mercedes junior Antonelli – who has the required Super License points – to race before he turns 18 at the end of August.

“What I’m talking about is ’25, ’26 drivers, nothing about this season. What I’m talking about is how do we create the right foundations going forward on things. And in a few weeks won’t be signing, it will be me ready to say to the world ‘this is where we are’. And part of it is out of respect to Logan, I’ve given him an opportunity and these are where he has to step up towards things.”

Sargeant was running an older-specification of floor at Imola as only Albon received the lighter upgrade, and despite the clear doubt over the American’s future, Vowles says the driver still has the opportunity to retain his seat longer-term.

“Definitely. I explained to him the controls are within his hands and there is absolutely things he can be doing in order to create an environment for him where he continues within Formula 1. It’s not the decision’s done. It’s not the door shut.

“That’s the whole point. I believe in having a human conversation and a human conversation is ‘This is where you are, this is where you need to be, and I’ll work with you as much as possible but you’re in control of that destiny, not myself’.

“That’s how I am fundamentally, it’s how I’ve been through my career and whether it was a driver or an engineer or someone within the organization, I feel it’s respectful if nothing more to lay out what has to be achieved.”

Blame for Williams chassis issue is on me – Vowles

Williams team principal James Vowles says he has to take the blame for the lack of a spare chassis that left the team with just one car racing in the Australian Grand Prix. Alex Albon’s crash in FP1 damaged his chassis, and with Williams still yet …

Williams team principal James Vowles says he has to take the blame for the lack of a spare chassis that left the team with just one car racing in the Australian Grand Prix.

Alex Albon’s crash in FP1 damaged his chassis, and with Williams still yet to have manufactured a spare, it was left to the team to decide which of the two drivers would get to compete in the rest of the race weekend. Vowles opted to withdraw Logan Sargeant, leaving Albon to take over his teammate’s car and finish 11th in the race. But after describing the situation as “unacceptable,” Vowles says he takes responsibility.

“It lies on me, there’s nowhere else it should ever stop,” Vowles told Speed City Broadcasting. “We’ve changed so much technology within the factory — we’ve changed how we design and produce the chassis, we’ve changed how we do things aerodynamically, we’ve changed how we add performance, how we do upgrades…

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“We’ve added process; we’ve added at the same time we’re going to do three cars — not one car — and you would imagine that stretches an organization to the limit.

“In the beginning of the year we were very open and honest — we were so late on the car because we changed so much, and one of the outcomes of that is we couldn’t make an additional chassis. You can’t move forward unless you are prepared to take some massive risks, and we did. But the outcome of it is you play with fire, and that caught us out.”

Shortly after Albon’s crash, Vowles couldn’t guarantee the damaged chassis would be repaired for the following race in Japan, but now believes the required work should be completed in plenty of time.

“I’m confident that we’ll be able to fix the chassis,” he said. “We put measures in place to ensure the chassis was back here very early on Monday morning — I think arrived around 2am or so — and since then there was already crews inside the building working on that, stripping it down and doing repairs.

“We’re in a good place for having the chassis back early enough for Suzuka. A lot of the work’s done actually back in Melbourne; there were photographs and techniques called NDT — non-destructive testing — there’s various ones you can do there, but it allows us to fully understand how big the damage is and what we have to do.

“And that preparation is key. What it meant was already at 2am on Monday, work could start. It wasn’t then a reflection on what was happening, it was more, ‘This is what we’re doing and this is how we execute it.’ So in Suzuka we’ll have two cars without too many issues.”

Williams situation ‘unacceptable in modern day Formula 1’ – Vowles

Williams team principal James Vowles says the situation that led to Alex Albon taking over Logan Sargeant’s car at the Australian Grand Prix is “unacceptable in modern day Formula 1,” but also a symptom of the circumstances the team is currently …

Albon crashed heavily in FP1 and sustained damage to his chassis that could not be repaired ahead of Saturday, but Williams does not have a spare and so has been left with one car for the rest of the race weekend. As a result, it has decided to withdraw Sargeant from the event so that Albon can take over his teammate’s car, and Vowles says the team should not have left itself in such a position.

“We are hugely disappointed that the damage sustained to the chassis has meant we need to withdraw it from the weekend,” Vowles said. “It’s unacceptable in modern day Formula 1 not to have a spare chassis, but it is a reflection of how behind we were in the winter period and an illustration of why we need to go through significant change in order to get ourselves in a better position for the future. As a result, we have had some very difficult decisions to make this afternoon.

“While Logan should not have to suffer from a mistake that he did not make, every race counts when the midfield is tighter than ever, so we have made the call based on our best potential to score points this weekend.

“This decision was not made lightly, and we cannot thank Logan enough for his graceful acceptance, demonstrating his dedication to the team; he is a true team player. This will prove a tough weekend for Williams, and this situation is not one that we will put ourselves in again.”

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Albon scored 27 points for Williams last season as it finished seventh in the constructors’ championship, with Sargeant scoring one 10th place in his rookie year. Melbourne also saw an impressive qualifying performance from Albon last year as he lined up eighth on the grid, although a crash — at the same corner as Friday’s incident — when running sixth cost him a chance of significant points.

The damaged chassis will now be returned to Williams’ headquarters in Grove, UK, for repairs ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka in two weeks’ time.

Vowles says Williams is reaping rewards from structural changes

Williams’ investment in personnel and restructuring is starting to pay off behind the scenes as well as on the track, according to team principal James Vowles. The former Mercedes motorsport strategy director has just completed his first season in …

Williams’ investment in personnel and restructuring is starting to pay off behind the scenes as well as on the track, according to team principal James Vowles.

The former Mercedes motorsport strategy director has just completed his first season in the role with Williams and led the team to seventh place in the constructors’ championship. While car performance was strong at certain venues, Vowles says it was the arrival of the likes of Pat Fry as chief technical officer that has strengthened the team’s overall position and is leading to progress outside of race results.

“It’s never about one individual,” Vowles said. “I’m very fortunate to be surrounded by a number of skilled leaders — technicians, engineers, mechanics, marketing — who all have the same passion and are drawn to the same things I am, which is to bring this team back towards the front. And who will give me every minute of every day in order for us to get there.

“The leadership team that we now have in place are really strong, and we are starting to see dividends from that. But that’s also all the way through the organization we’re seeing that and it takes time for a lot of those elements to move in the way we want to.

“We’ve been misaligned, perhaps, for a number of years and that direction is starting to change; but it’s not about me, it’s about the team.”

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After holding off AlphaTauri at the final round in Abu Dhabi, Vowles admits he was not counting on a fight for seventh in the constructors’ championship while focusing on restructuring Williams.

“We also have to be realistic: AlphaTauri were very quick — as they have been towards the end of the season — and they were able to get themselves conclusively into the top 10 with [Yuki] Tsunoda. We did our utmost in the race but actually our car got quicker and quicker as the race went on — which we believe we understand and is no different to the problems we’ve had all year long — but that first stint really hurt us in terms of where we could fight for in the race itself.

“At the end of the day it was a two-stop for everyone and in the case of AlphaTauri they fell back trying that one-stop, and were very quick at certain points. There were moments where an ill-timed safety car for us would have completely changed what that championship looked like.

“Seventh would have exceeded all expectations at the beginning of the year, and I would say even up to midway through the year. I’m very proud of what we have achieved and absolutely, seventh exceeds expectations. Not met, but exceeds.”

Williams sets targets for Sargeant to secure 2024 seat

Williams has set Logan Sargeant a number of “very clear targets” to hit in order to secure a seat for 2024, says team principal James Vowles. Sargeant has had a number of high-profile crashes since the summer break that Williams says has been …

Williams has set Logan Sargeant a number of “very clear targets” to hit in order to secure a seat for 2024, says team principal James Vowles.

Sargeant has had a number of high-profile crashes since the summer break that Williams says has been overshadowing progress that the rookie has made this season. Yet to score a point, Sargeant’s future is still unconfirmed for 2024 but Vowles insists the team wants the Floridian in its car next season as long as he delivers on the goals he has been set.

“Logan has very clear targets of what he has to hit before the end of the season, and we are working with him continuously,” Vowles said. “And that’s the important point — we are working with him. We want him to succeed, and we want him in the car next year.

“This is very much on us as well. We have taken someone straight from Formula 2, without any significant testing, put him a day and half in Bahrain in this car, and then wished them well on a season that has been awfully challenging for rookies.”

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Vowles says there was an appreciable rise in Sargeant’s performance at Suzuka relative to teammate Alex Albon before the American’s crash in qualifying, and that Williams is a long way from running out of patience with the 22-year-old.

“There were some very positive signs to take out (from Japan),” Vowles said. “First and foremost, Logan is not on the same aerodynamic specific as Alex was. We have updates that are on Alex’s car that are not on Logan’s, due to the amount of attrition we have had this year.

“So, often when you see a performance offset it is not quite what it may seem on the timing pages. Further to that, if you look at the case of Suzuka, he did a build-up across the weekend — as he went into FP3, he did a time that matched Alex. And as we go into qualifying, until the accident he was overlaying, line-on-line, within a tenth of Alex’s performance at one of the trickiest circuits of the season.

“So, the progress is there in certain forms but very clearly being marred by a number of other issues and accidents have appeared as well. We will continue to work with Logan, and invest in Logan, as we want him to succeed as a result of the journey he is on.

“He is on a journey with us as Williams; we have a young driver program that we will continue to invest in. Only at the point where all of us come to the conclusion that we have reached the end of that road will we make any decisions, but we are nowhere near that yet.”

Williams team principal James Vowles lobbying for more money to upgrade facilities

F1’s cost cap is designed to even the playing field, but Vowles argues that the deck is stacked against lower-end teams due to their inferior facilities.

Formula 1 instituted a cost cap in 2021 to help bring teams closer together in competitiveness. Despite that, Williams team principal [autotag]James Vowles[/autotag] maintains that there still remains an element of financials that is keeping teams from drawing too close — the facilities that are already there.

Vowles spoke to RacingNews365 on Monday about his desire to increase spending on Capital Expenditure for lower-end teams such as Williams, maintaining that it’s hard for them to abide by the cap and get better when the infrastructure and facilities that teams like Mercedes and Red Bull use are already superior after being built up before the cost cap.

Vowles said that lower-end teams like his have been trying to hold votes to get more money to upgrade their facilities, but that top-end contenders are trying to prevent that from happening.

“It’ll be no surprise that everyone at the back of the grid near enough all unanimously had their hands up for most of these votes and the ones at the front and the grid did not,” Vowles told Racing365.

Vowles said he tried to stress to these teams that making the grid more competitive will be good for the sport as a whole.

“This is about for the greater good of the sport and I really do believe this. I appreciate I have more to gain than others,” Vowles said. “But you need it to be that on any given Sunday, you don’t know who’s going to particularly win. Certainly, that dominance doesn’t exist the way it does at the moment.”

Williams currently sits at seventh in the World Constructors Championship with 11 points. Vowles said he understands he has the most to gain from such votes, but that he hopes a resolution to the problem can come sooner than later.

“What I’m hoping out of all of this is it’s undoubtedly agreed in that room Williams — amongst all the peers — is the one with the least amount of facilities and that means rectifying,” Vowles said. “We’ll have another go at fixing that and seeing if we get other people’s mindsets to modify.”

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Teams need to take NFL inspiration for ‘the greater good of the sport’ – Vowles

Formula 1 needs to follow the NFL’s lead of working collaboratively as teams without worrying about who will win in order to strengthen the sport as a whole, according to James Vowles. The Williams team principal has been pushing for a change of …

Formula 1 needs to follow the NFL’s lead of working collaboratively as teams without worrying about who will win in order to strengthen the sport as a whole, according to James Vowles.

The Williams team principal has been pushing for a change of capital expenditure limits in the financial regulations to allow investment into the facilities at Grove, stating it’s impossible for his team to ever fight at the front with the current factory and equipment at its disposal.

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While Vowles acknowledges why rival teams are averse to opening the door to Williams gains, he says the wider end result of a more competitive F1 grid needs to be considered after failing to secure an agreement in the recent F1 Commission meeting in Belgium.

“This is about for the greater good of the sport and I really do believe this – and I appreciate I have more to gain than others – you need it to be that on any given Sunday you don’t know who’s going to particularly win and that dominance doesn’t exist the way it does at the moment,” Vowles said. “I think that’s good for the sport.

“To do that everyone needs to have facilities that are… not even on par, but the ability to produce performance and move forward and that’s not the case today. We had a great meeting with Roger (Goodell) – the CEO of the NFL – in Canada who explained the value of the teams went up exponentially, certainly by multiples, at the point where all teams realized it doesn’t matter who wins, it matters you work together on that journey.

“We’re not there today. We’re still on a journey where everyone is concerned, and rightly so, about the bottom line of where they finish in the championship today. It’s hard to know what’s going to change over the next two months, which is the next point we’ll get together and talk about all of this, because everyone’s fears of where they lie in the championship and how it affects them short-term and how powerful Williams could become as a result of it, will still be there.

“What I’m hoping, out of all of it, is it’s undoubtedly agreed in that room that Williams, amongst all the peers, is the one with the least amount of facilities and that needs rectifying. We’ll have another go at fixing that and seeing if we can get other people’s mindsets to modify.”

Vowles says there were good discussions recently around why it is not as simple as increasing CapEx across the board for all teams, but says if progress is to be made then other teams will need to accept they are giving up something to those with the worst facilities.

“If I wind back, February 20th, a few days after I started here, was the first day I put on the table that we as Williams need help, we cannot compete at the front with the facilities we have at the factory. That remains the case today, that hasn’t changed. And in five months or so it’s unfortunate and disappointing frankly that we’re in a situation where again that meeting went round in circles if nothing else.

“And to an extent it will do because everyone in that room wants to make sure they’re not losing out relative to everyone else, and there’s no way of doing it. There’s no way of just letting Williams gain facilities, especially in a circumstance where we’re sitting seventh in the championship.

“Other teams will be hurt by the fact we could put millions in, and some are in different positions – some don’t have the money to spend, some don’t want to spend the money, some are fearful of change. Aligning that in one room in the space of two hours is simply not possible.

“The actions we’ve taken out of it are that we will extend the deadline for the five votes for financial (regulation changes) from September to the end of October, that’s option number one. The FIA has been tasked to find another solution that is amenable.

“On every vote it wasn’t a surprise particularly how it voted, when we spoke about who needs to catch up, basically on one side of the table – this is a coincidence by the way we don’t line up this way – was the teams at the back end of the grid and on the other side of the table the teams at the front end of the grid, and it’d be no surprise that the back end of the grid near enough unanimously had their hands up for most of the votes and the ones at the front end of the grid did not. (Although) there’s some exceptions to that.”

Vowles confident in Williams progress

Williams can mount a realistic challenge for seventh place in the Formula 1 constructors’ championship this season with the strengths of its 2023 car, team principal James Vowles believes. Alex Albon finished seventh in the Canadian Grand Prix to …

Williams can mount a realistic challenge for seventh place in the Formula 1 constructors’ championship this season with the strengths of its 2023 car, team principal James Vowles believes.

Alex Albon finished seventh in the Canadian Grand Prix to move Williams up to ninth place, one point behind Haas and just two adrift of Alfa Romeo in the constructors’ standings. Albon was using an upgraded car that is due to be available to Logan Sargeant in this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, and Vowles believes the developments mean Williams will be particularly strong at a number of European venues around the summer break.

“I think realistically yes (P7 is achievable),” Vowles told SpeedCity Broadcasting. “We have the package now — we’ll do our best with it at the forthcoming races. There are going to be some tracks that definitely suit the teams (directly ahead) more than us. Perhaps over the next two you may see us drop back a little bit, but then you’re going to get a series of tracks where this car really starts to perform.

“What we’ve got to do is the same thing we did (in Canada) with Alex but not with Logan — we’ve got to deliver and execute a perfect weekend, clean car, reliable car. With Logan, obviously as incredible as this is and I’m happy for everybody to a point, we also have a car that DNFd and in that sort of situation you can’t have happen in this tight fight for the odd point in the championship.”

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Vowles has been outspoken about the areas where Williams has been lagging behind rival teams in terms of infrastructure and processes, and while he says the team should be proud of the way it delivered on its recent upgrade, he wants it to act as motivation for further improvements.

“What it means is already various bits — despite some of the obvious things lacking that I’ve been very vocal about — the odd bits work well together to deliver what we have today. That’s great news. What it means is that once we do have the infrastructure in place and the machines in place and the systems in place, it will deliver more and more.

“It means the wind tunnel is delivering aerodynamic performance and it’s correlating to the car. These are great additions, but even in those areas there’s a tremendous amount more work to do to optimize it. I think what it more means for the team is you’ll see everyone’s shoulders almost having a weight off them.

“Now we have to be careful with that — you can’t relax. This is where you’ve got to dig deep, actually deeper than before and get on with things, but even so it gives the team just reward for their work.”

New sprint rules must avoid spoiling the flow of race weekends – Vowles

Formula 1’s new sprint rules are still being finalized to make sure that changes don’t inadvertently destroy the rest of a race weekend, according to Williams team principal James Vowles (pictured middle, above). Formula 1 teams have agreed to drop …

Formula 1 teams have agreed to drop FP2 during a sprint weekend in favor of an extra qualifying session bespoke to the short Saturday race, essentially making that a standalone day with Friday qualifying setting the grid for the grand prix. Vowles says the collective approach between all team bosses shows a clear desire to try and improve the sport but that work is still required to make sure the final format is an overall step forward.

“On the new format, first and foremost there was a very good meeting where myself and other team principals sat down and discussed, ‘What would be good for the sport?’” Vowles told SiriusXM. “And it really was that level of discussion — a discussion that I don’t think could have been held that way five years ago, because it was all about individuals and what’s best for your team back then.

“We agreed that actually FP2 is probably not the right… It existed previously as a practice session; it was an hour, but we weren’t really doing anything. We were going around in circles because we enjoy doing that but we weren’t learning a tremendous amount, so the question was should we change that to a qualifying session? And there was very positive discussion around the table really that that’s probably a good direction of travel for the sport. But it has to be done in the right way.

“I think recent comments from Toto (Wolff, Mercedes team principal) and others around that sort of suggested we need to be careful that we don’t change too much that makes FP2 better but completely destroys the remainder of the race weekend. And it’s very easy to do — the rules are on a knife edge and there’s a limited amount of resource available to us.

“But I think globally the concept’s right. The sport will be more interesting if we had a second qualifying session there, we just need to carve the rules out. There’s meetings going on at the moment to do so to make sure that we have the right format. Then there will be a vote to make sure we’re all happy, we’ve got the right set of rules that move it forward. So the new format is in a proposal stage at the moment, moving hopefully to a complete stage later.”

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The current proposal includes the Saturday qualifying session following the same format but with shorter time windows for running, resulting in less track time overall. A final vote is set to take place on April 25, and Vowles says regardless of any changes the sprint in Baku is going to be particularly challenging for rookies such as Logan Sargeant.

A lot to take on in a short time for newcomers like Williams rookie Logan Sargeant. Glenn Dunbar/Motorsport Images

“A normal race weekend, normally we get Friday where we do two hours of practice, and then again on Saturday morning a third hour. It may seem a little bit excessive but take the case of Logan for example — three hours, and you’re not running for all three hours, you’re probably running for about half an hour, 35 minutes. There’s a limited amount of tires, fuel, setup time, so that’s maybe an hour and a half of time full stop before he gets into the race. That’s it.

“Baku’s a tricky circuit as well. Go to a sprint race weekend, what happens now is we get just one hour, that’s all we get to basically get the car set up.

“We’ll try and fit in a little bit of a qualifying program, a little bit of a race program to make sure the car’s OK. That’s it. Once that’s done, that setup is on the car for the remainder of that race weekend and we’ll go straight into a qualifying session in the evening of Friday.

“So from a driver perspective it’s a little bit like you’re being shocked and dumped in ice water — you’ve got to immediately get on with the pace. Especially for someone like Logan where experience matters and laps matter, it’s not a lot of time to get into the flow of the weekend.”