James Vowels set to ‘Rebuild Williams from the ground up’ to restore its former glory

It’s no secret that Williams has not been overly impressive in the past few years. Their inability to fight for points, let alone podiums in every race, have become a matter of certainty. After appointing a new team principal James Vowels, for this year, Williams will look to ‘rebuild’ from the ‘ground up.’

“On direction, [we are] clear on where we’re going. We’re in a good state in terms of getting what we need to in terms of technical structure in place,” states Vowels. “There’s nothing to talk about yet but there will be, I hope, within the next few months,” he continues. According to Vowels, the Grove-based team will see an intense overhaul in the upcoming races.

The Williams team principal further went on to say, that the team will have to “break what we have in existence” to be competitive in the future. “The main thing is this: we’re in a position that we can break what we have in existence, and rebuild it from the foundations, ground-up, into a solid mechanism”, said the former Mercedes strategy chief.

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James Vowels to use Williams’ ‘legacy’ to propel the team forward

With eight constructors’ titles and seven drivers’ championships, Williams was a giant of the past. However, their recent form doesn’t reflect any of that. Their last podium, Belgium 2021, was a slight glimmer of hope for the team, even though the race was rain affected.   

“We have finance, we have investment that’s available to us, as do a lot of teams. But, irrespective, that is available to us at the moment,” said Vowels. “Then you have the legacy. It doesn’t take long to walk around the [museum in Grove] and look at all the championship cars to realise the legacy this team comes with.”

The 43-year-old Brit also hints that Williams could compromise this season’s performance to excel in future years. “We have the willingness and desire to even compromise this year,” he said. That’s a tougher decision if you’re racing for fifth or sixth in the championship but much easier when you’re Williams,” he continues. Williams is last in the constructors’ standings, with only singular points finish in Bahrain scored by Alex Albon.

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