James Vowels is not pressing the panic button, despite seeing Williams’ rate of progress slow during the 2024 season. At the end of the last campaign, Vowles had seen the team climb up to seventh in the constructors’ championship and it had amassed 28 points. In doing so, he received high acclaim for the achievement.
However, now 19 months in his role as team principal, at the halfway point of the season and going into the summer break, Williams sits in ninth place with just four points on the board.
It would be easy to suggest the honeymoon period was over and that to an outside eye the team has slipped backwards.
Yet Vowles is keen to set the record straight, pointing out that when he took over he illustrated how there would be some quick wins. But what becomes clear from our discussions is that he is not content with finishing mid-table.
He has higher aspirations to see this famous team again challenging for victories but before they are able to do that, they have to go through some initial pain.
«We have to go back a little bit and here’s why,» he says when we speak at the Hungarian GP.
«It’s simply because I’m investing in 2026. I’ve got to do the transformation. To do a transformation means that I’m asking individuals to compromise. That’s okay. I’m completely comfortable with it.
James Vowles, Team Principal, Williams Racing
Photo by: Williams
«Even in the factory the other week, there was a question over ‘are we really happy spending this amount of time working on the future, to have to compromise now?’ and I’ll say the same to you, I am 100 percent sure it is right, because I don’t want to be 7th, 8th or 9th.
«I want ’26 to be good whereas the others around me in the pit lane are focused on ’24 and ’25. Not everyone can work on the ’26 car but so long as we are doing the right thing to close the gap, if the worst was to happen, I’m still okay with it. As long as I can see progress in the systems development for 2026 taking place, I know that I can translate that into a much higher success rate.
«Do I feel more pressure? No. Because I feel really content for this as a multi-year plan about five years. The board knows it, the investors know and I am very comfortable.»
Vowles received a shock upon taking the role at Williams, finding an outdated model for production and development. He is now in the process of recruiting the right staff to help the team progress, most notably in convincing Carlos Sainz to sign up to his vision for the future.
Vowles is clearly ambitious and says that the team’s progress should not be judged on this year’s offering.
«Fundamentally, there was no doubt about there were many issues,» he says when we speak about his takeover of the team. «A lot of it is still present today. We haven’t got rid of it. But what we were able to do in the short term was work on little bits, which produces nice low-hanging fruit fairly quickly.
«However, there is a ‘but’ to it. Inside what we have at the moment, there’s limited time and resource and in a cost cap you can’t do anything — by the way, the cost cap’s a good thing because it stops many others running away and doing four times more than I can.
Alex Albon, Williams Racing FW46
Photo by: Erik Junius
«But it also limits the amount I can change in a year. So there’s two buckets, there’s the amounts I can invest now and there’s the amount I can invest in the future. And you’ve got to pull from one to go to the other.
«In terms of 2024 and 2025 we have massively compromised the now for the future and we will suffer for at the moment and that is combined with some of the technology changes we did, the impact of that was worse than expected.»
Vowles has juggled his role with Williams with being a dad and taking on a house renovation and while he admits he takes on too much at times, says he is loving all aspects of his hectic life.
«I am definitely more busy now,» he says when asked about having assessed his first 19 months in charge.
«I do too much. I don’t regret it but I do too much. So in a space of a year, I decided to change jobs. We’re renovating 170 year old house. We have a small daughter and have a puppy, so I think we have ticked every box that you can do.
«But I don’t have any regrets because I am someone who just loves learning, pushing myself until I can’t find anything. You think you have to limit and push past it.
«Personally what I’ve learned about myself is there’s a huge amount more ability and strength than I believed but you just don’t know how good you can be until you push yourself.
James Vowles, Team Principal, Williams Racing
Photo by: Williams
«You can get into a situation like this and sink or swim. I felt like I was swinging quite happily and, as a result of it, that’s why I’m very comfortable or moment more than anything else. So from a personal perspective is everything I hoped for.»
Having admitted to taking on too much, it would only seem appreciative to check about those home improvements and whether the 45-year-old is getting hands-on with the building work.
«I am fortunate I have two project managers that are brilliant,» he says. «They have fundamentally allowed me to not really get dramatically involved. My job is: I will go and spend an hour and a half there in that time we get through about 4,000 decisions and then they go away and execute.
«I don’t have to go and check it every day because I know what they’re going to do to the highest standard possible. It’s a mixture of empowerment but the decision-making will still come from me.»