James Vowles: “We Are Going To Compromise” Next Season Ahead Of 2026 Rule Changes

Williams has been struggling for many years now, not placing in the top five since 2017, the only exception being during the controversial 2021 Belgian Grand Prix. Previously owned by the Williams family who mainly struggled financially, the team is now getting a budget it needs from the new owners Dorilton Capital, trying to catch up with others.

They finished last season seventh in the Constructor’s Championship with three points lead on the rival AlphaTauri, now known as RB. However, at the start of this year, Williams struggled a lot until Monza and Baku where the FW46 car finally lost crucial weight and both Alex Albon and new teammate Franco Colapinto finished in the top eight in Azerbaijan.

“I think we were fortunate to finish seventh last year,” James Vowles admitted. “RB was bloody quick at the end of the year, and it was really just a matter of one strategic call, almost, that defined who finished ahead in the championship. We still finished seventh.

“This year’s car was performing. I think I was quite open in how overweight we were. Just take that time off, and you’ll see that we shouldn’t be where we are in the championship. Now that we’ve had the performance, taking the weight off the car, we’re back to where I would have expected us to be – which is therefore not a step backwards.”

“We are trying to do leaps – not steps forward, not inching forward, not minimal gains, or marginal gains even, but leaps in the technology and what we’re doing,” the team principal explained. “And in doing so, we’re going to trip ourselves up. And I’m comfortable with that, because we can’t unlearn what we’ve learned.”

Unfortunately, even with the team learning and improving right now, Vowels’ expectations for next season aren’t overly positive. It will be the last year with the cars we know as in 2026, there will be a large overhaul — the cars will have smaller dimensions, reduced weight, simplified aerodynamics and toned-down downforce and drag.

Therefore, Williams sees it as a brilliant opportunity to leap up in the order with Alex Albon and new addition to the team Carlos Sainz — and they are prepared to sacrifice 2025 for it.

“It’s the message that Alex and Carlos both know: 2025 will be a struggle, I think. It’s not that you’re going to see us moving forward, we’re going to move back a little bit,” Vowels said.

“And if we are, I’m okay with that, because it simply says that I’m investing at the right rate for ‘26 compared to those around me. That’s what we should be expecting from it: we are going to compromise ’25. That doesn’t mean we’ll be tenth, but it’s going to be a hard year.”

The team principal of Williams concluded: “I give you almost a guarantee: unfortunately, we’re going to trip ourselves again. I don’t think it’d be in ‘25, for what it’s worth. I think we’ve got enough of a good pathway to lead us there.

“I think in ’26, what we’re asking of the organisation is more than we can deliver. So we’ve got to make it fit or perhaps trip up a little bit along the way.”