Williams team principal James Vowles: Bleak outlook for Monza and Madrid

The Williams team has been lagging behind since the start of the year. Having achieved its best result in recent years last season – finishing fifth in the constructors’ championship – expectations were high for the team from Grove. However, it became clear as early as the shakedown test at the end of November that it would not be an easy year, as Williams was absent from the first test sessions with the new generation of cars in Barcelona.

In the eleven World Championship rounds that followed before the summer break, Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz managed to score eleven points. On their return from the regulation-mandated break, there were no fresh World Championship points for the duo, who collided shortly before the chequered flag fell. The two team-mates can no longer afford to make any further mistakes. As team principal James Vowles emphasises, the parts situation is precarious.

“There’s still an incredible amount to do ahead of the race weekend at Monza. There’s a lot going on behind the scenes, and we’re working on updates that will be fitted to the car later in the year,” explains the Briton, alluding to an update that Williams intends to introduce at Baku. “That means we’re in a difficult situation at Monza and Madrid,” he makes clear.

No chance of points at Monza?

“The sad reality is that we currently don’t have the pace to fight for points, disappointing as that is. We’ll do our best, but it’s certainly going to be tricky. We have lots of projects running in the background to rectify what went wrong over the winter. That’s our top priority today, and it will still be six months’ time,” says the British team’s principal, tempering expectations.

He expects a difficult weekend at Monza, even though the circuit has historically been a good one for his team. “The circuit has always suited our car well, but I don’t think we currently have the performance to really capitalise on that. We’ll give it our all, but it’s going to be a difficult weekend,” warns Vowles.

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