The world didn't get to see Williams' real progress

In 2024, Williams had a complicated season finishing in ninth place in the constructors' standings with 17 points on the clock. The British team's campaign was also punctuated by numerous accidents which damaged its results and finances.

However, team principal James Vowles is continuing the restructuring process he put in place after joining Grove at the start of 2023. In an interview with Motorsport.comthe Briton recalled Williams' latest high-profile signings which he believes should bear fruit in the future.

Thus, the team offered itself the services of a new technical director with Pat Fry and a new design director Matt Harman from Alpine, a new chief IT and scientific engineer, Fabrice Moncade, former head of analytics at Ferrari; and a new chief engineer Angelos Tsiaparas, coming straight from Red Bull. The latter is currently focusing on the development of the next FW48 meeting the new technical regulations for 2026.

“What we have to remember is this: the world does not see a lot of the positive elements”Vowles said. “I can walk around the building and see great staff who have won races and are now part of our team.”

“I can see a change in what we're doing in terms of infrastructure, culture, people, even business-wise – it's just another world. I've always said adventure is 2023, 2024, 2025 – it’s just a progression and the results on the track won’t necessarily reflect the big changes happening behind the scenes.”

“Do I think ninth place fully reflects what we have achieved? No […]”recognized the British engineer. “Does it frustrate me that we are ninth? Yes, absolutely, because I always come to race weekends to get the most out of them, which was not the case [en 2024]. There are some really good technological advances and some really good things on the horizon. That’s what I focused on.”

“We really suffered from attrition. We were penalized by [nos] own technological changes that produced a car that didn't meet the weight limit and we just weren't able to show the world what we could do.”

“We weren't able to show the world what we could do. And then there are weird races where people see that Williams is capable of getting into Q3, but we don't capitalize. There will always be frustration, but it is outweighed by the positive news behind the scenes. The only way the world will realize this will be to see the progress made in 2025, 2026 and 2027.

Williams recorded ten Q3 appearances last season, eight by Alexander Albon and two by Franco Colapinto, for just six points finishes. Opportunities to enter the top 10 were also missed several times on Saturdays.

“I will remember that we were second in qualifying in Brazil before Alex had an accident”added Vowles. “We were potentially in Q3 in Las Vegas with Franco before we crashed. I hate to keep bringing it up to crashes, but that's the story of our year.”

“We have to remember that the pace is there, but we're not taking advantage of it. It's about the team. I've never put the responsibility on any one individual. It's the team that is fundamentally the problem – we can't do everything together. And that's the secret.”

“We need everything to move forward together. You need your reliability, your design, your performance, your drivers, your overall strategy, how it all comes together, to move forward at the right pace.”

With Alex Kalinauckas