‘We’re pushing like mad’ – James Vowles confident Williams won’t be on ‘back foot’ for 2026 season after car delays

While disappointed not to appear at last week’s Barcelona Shakedown, Williams team boss James Vowles has expressed confidence that the squad will ultimately avoid entering the 2026 campaign on the “back foot”.

Williams were the only team to miss the first pre-season gathering of the year, where F1’s all-new era of cars debuted, “following delays in the FW48 programme” as they “continued to push for maximum car performance”.

As their rivals lapped in the real world, Williams conducted a private Virtual Track Testing (VTT) programme, but they are due to be back in action for the pair of official pre-season tests in Bahrain later this month.

Reflecting on the disrupted period during Williams’ livery launch on Tuesday, Vowles said: “I would have much preferred to have been in Barcelona. That was the goal, that was what we were intending to do, and we did not achieve it.

“However, what we did in terms of a week’s worth of VTT that was successful, and what we’ve been doing with both Carlos [Sainz] and Alex [Albon] on the driver-in-loop simulator in tandem, whilst everyone else was in Barcelona…

“In addition, and we are fortunate that Mercedes had sufficient runners, so there was quite a bit of information coming back on the gearbox and power unit that enables us to get ahead when we come to Bahrain, means I do not believe with six days of testing we’ll be on the back foot.

“A little bit of that is fortune, because the engine and the power unit is reliable, the gearbox is reliable, and the VTT testing flushed out a lot of the demons that are buried in the car.”

He added: “What’s missing is there’s a lot of knowledge for the drivers to inherently perfect what’s going on on track. What’s missing is a correlation for where our aerodynamics really are, and a correlation for where our vehicle dynamics really are – track data is the only way of establishing that.

“So, there is a loss, but with six days of testing, with our driver-in-loop simulator – that we invested in, is state-of-the-art, and I’m very confident this is the benchmark in the business – up and running at the end of last year, we are able to mitigate a lot of those.”

Vowles also took a moment to assess Williams’ chances of continuing the momentum that has been building since his arrival in early-2023, with the operation rising to fifth in the Teams’ Championship last season.

“We’re not naïve about the challenge ahead of us or the challenge that’s amongst us right now,” he commented. “The jump from fifth to fourth is in my experience exponentially more difficult than what we’ve already achieved.

“The only way to achieve that against competitors who themselves are striving and moving forward, is simply by pushing the absolute boundaries and being brave in the decisions you’re making.

“We don’t expect to be fighting for the championship, but we do expect that 2025 is our new established baseline, and to keep moving the business forward year on year from then onwards.

“Nobody, and I’m sure you realise this as well, really knows what’s going to happen in Melbourne. There’s a development race, and it depends on what parts people bring, but also it looks interesting, certainly in the top five.

“Our key point at the moment is to make sure that we push like mad, catch up, go to Bahrain with our heads held high, and keep moving forward.”