Determined to be on pace from 2026, James Vowles admits, however, that Williams could well face a difficult 2025.
Having moved to ninth place in the 2024 team rankings after suffering the blow from Alpine at the very end of the season and without having managed to beat Haas and VCARB, the English team ultimately only beat Stake Sauber, and has therefore fallen significantly from its seventh position in 2023.
The end of the season was particularly difficult for the team, which repeatedly recalled the enormous impact of its drivers' repeated end-of-season crashes as a factor in its ability to provide high-performance equipment in the final rounds.
James Vowles, however, also regularly said that the team's objectives were not short-term and that he had in mind a much more sustainable challenge with Dorlington Capital, the investor behind the structure.
Thus, the emphasis is already clearly placed on a significant leap forward within the framework of the new 2026 regulations, which could therefore also compromise the 2025 season, despite the fact that the team offers itself a recruit of choice with Carlos Sainz to join Alex Albon.
“That’s the message that Alex and Carlos both know: 2025 will be a struggle, I think”declares Vowles, bluntly, to Autosport. “It's not that we're going to move forward, we're going to go back a little.”he believes. “And if that’s the case, that’s fine with me because it just means I’m investing at the right pace for the year 2026 compared to those around me.”
“That’s what you should expect”he insists. “We will compromise on the year 2025. That doesn’t mean we will be tenth, but it will be a difficult year.”
After an impressive first season under Vowles, 2024 has been difficult for Williams, particularly at the start, when spare parts were already in short supply and a number of other parts proved too cumbersome. And then there is of course the Logan Sargeant problem, far from the level required to reach the points in the race.
“I think we were lucky to finish seventh last year”moderates Vowles to justify the 2024 result.RB was pretty darn fast at the end of the year[2023anditwasreallyjustamatterofstrategicdecisionsalmostthatdeterminedwhofinishedaheadinthechampionshipWestillfinishedseventh”[2023etcen’étaitvraimentqu’unequestiondedécisionsstratégiquespresquequiadéterminéquiaterminédevantauchampionnatNousavonstoutdemêmeterminéseptièmes”
“I think I've been pretty open about being overweight.”he adds, referring to the 2024 car.
“We are trying to make leaps”he said of the plan for the coming seasons. “Not steps forward, not breakthroughs, not small or even marginal gains, but leaps in technology and in what we do. In doing so, we are going to trip ourselves up.”he admits. “It doesn’t bother me, because we can’t unlearn what we’ve learned.”
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