James Vowles wishes for the FIA to authorize him to exceed the budget cap
James Vowles, team principal of Williams, has requested the FIA if his team can exceed the budget cap in order to modernize its infrastructure and try to catch up with the teams ahead of them. The Briton seems confident.
Despite a glorious past, Williams has been struggling with development for the past few years and consistently finding themselves at the bottom of various rankings. Their new team principal, James Vowles, who came from Mercedes, compares the two setups and draws a rather sad conclusion.
Infrastructure that is 20 years old
His arrival at Williams was marked by change, and Vowles quickly realized the difference between a top team and a backmarker team. Some elements of the organization are at a similar level to Mercedes, but others are outdated by 20 years, he declared.
« It makes sense if one looks at the history of this team. Investments were non-existent for about twenty years, then an investment company came in. »
A lot of work to be done, but under bad conditions
Upon his arrival, James Vowles initiated a restructuring and development project for the racecar in an attempt to close the gap with other teams. However, it is impossible to work as quickly and efficiently in outdated infrastructures. Internally, a large part of the work I asked them to do was compared to asking us to achieve three years of development in six months. Yes, but that’s the norm. In fact, the standard is even higher than that, stated Vowles.
For the team manager of Williams, it is more than necessary for the FIA to intervene in these matters to ensure similar working conditions between teams and employees. This is where I believe an intermediate step is needed. We need to show people the way forward, guide them in this direction, and make sure to support and provide them with the equipment that will allow them to do the same.
James Vowles confident
The British man is confident in his approach and seems certain that the FIA will be on his side and allow him to exceed the budget cap in order to modernize the infrastructure of the Grove team. Without this permission, it would be impossible for Williams to return to the forefront and compete with the best.
He first declared, “Formula 1 and the FIA have been of great support.”
From the first week, I showed them what I had at Mercedes and what I have at Williams. There is no chance that we can compete with that. And I think that where we are now, by July, it will be signed and teams like ours will be able to invest to catch up, Vowles finally declared.
