The team principal of Williams, James Vowles, has acknowledged that the improvements introduced during the British Grand Prix did not achieve the expected level of performance, admitting that the weekend at Silverstone highlighted several new areas of concern for the Grove team.
Vowles provided an assessment of the team’s development progress after a challenging home race during the latest episode of The Vowles Verdict. Despite the tireless efforts of the factory to bring new parts to the car, the reality on track did not match the team’s initial expectations.
“At Silverstone, we worked diligently, day and night, to bring performance to the car,” explained the Brit, maintaining an optimistic view of the situation. “I think it helped to some extent, but in no way to the level we needed or perhaps even should have achieved.”
“For me, right now, this generates nothing but the will and desire to get to work, because I suspect there is much more performance we can unlock as a result of this. But right now, the work being done is in these next seven to fourteen days, delving into what we know and adjusting changes as necessary for the next grand prix.”
He also added that Silverstone raised more unknowns for the team. “We analyze everything we know, based on data and facts, but at the same time create sections of unknowns, of which there were several and a bit more than we had previously encountered.”
Williams has had a difficult start to the 2026 season. They did not participate in the private tests held in Barcelona at the end of January and arrived at the pre-season tests in Bahrain at a disadvantage with a car that was overweight.
The team led by Vowles currently sits in eighth place in the constructors’ championship with 11 points after the first nine races. Drivers Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon are in 15th and 16th place in the drivers’ championship with six and five points, respectively.
The Belgian Grand Prix (July 17-19) will start the final double-header before the August summer break, followed by the Hungarian Grand Prix (July 24-26).
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
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