Williams team principal James Vowles under pressure? Warning from Günther Steiner

Expectations among Williams fans ahead of the start of the 2026 season were high; after all, team principal James Vowles, who had taken the reins at the Grove-based team in 2023, had predicted a return to the top. But the dream was shattered as early as the pre-season test sessions. The members of the historic British team were absent from the shakedown in Barcelona. And in Bahrain, it quickly became apparent that the FW48 was too heavy and, consequently, too slow.

The results reflected this. The high-calibre driver pairing of Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon did at least manage to score a total of eleven points before the summer break. But only once – in Miami – did both Williams cars finish in the points. There have been no new points since the race in Barcelona. And the question of whether Vowles is the right man at the helm of the team is being asked with increasing frequency.

Vowles promises to step up the pace after the summer break. And he asks the fans for patience. Günther Steiner believes this patience is indeed necessary. When asked whether Williams should get rid of Vowles, the former Haas team principal puts the brakes on in the ‘The Red Flags’ podcast. He jokes: “As much as I think he’s not doing a great job, I also think he should be given enough time to read all his emails.

“He received them at the start of the year, he knows what needs to be done, he just hasn’t managed to work his way through them all yet. He needs to find a solution by the end of the year, and if he hasn’t managed to read them all by then, then he can be let go,” added the South Tyrolean in his unmistakable manner.

By the start of next season at the latest, it will become clear whether Vowles has turned things round. “If next year’s season opener turns out like this one, then the emails will end up in the spam folder or be deleted – and he’ll have to go with them. They’re long emails, because there’s a lot of work to be done on this car,” Steiner continued. When asked whether the grace period was limited to the first five or six races next year, he confirmed: “Yes, that’s right.”