James Vowles still uncertain about Williams’ performance
Williams only has a seven-point lead over AlphaTauri, with two races to go in the season. While the team is at risk of losing their seventh place in the constructor's championship, James Vowles, the team's director, wouldn't consider that as a failure.
Seventh in the constructor championship with 28 points scored, 27 thanks to Alexander Albon and one by Logan Sargeant, with two races remaining in the season, Williams seemed to be assured of finishing in this position. The British team currently has an 80-point gap to Alpine, the sixth team in the constructor standings, but now only has a seven-point lead over AlphaTauri.
After a disastrous first half of the season for the Italian team with only three points scored by Yuki Tsunoda and the dismissal of Nyck de Vries after 10 Grand Prix, the team is slowly climbing up the standings. Daniel Ricciardo took the place of the Dutch driver, starting from the Hungarian Grand Prix, despite missing five races due to his wrist injury, from Zandvoort to Losail. The Australian driver scored six points during the race in Mexico. His replacement, Liam Lawson, also scored two points in Singapore and Yuki Tsunoda was able to add ten more points to his tally.
The halt in car development pointed out
James Vowles, the team principal of the Williams team, admitted in an interview with the website Formel1.de that ceasing development of the FW45 could cost the team seventh place in the constructor’s championship. “We stopped working on our car several months ago. This could mean we are risking our seventh place in the championship,” James Vowles explained.
(I am very happy with this decision. Our journey is not about whether we finish seventh or eighth in 2023. It is about how we can come back to the front with the team. We cannot put everything in the same bag and hope that everything will be successful. We want to take a step forward in 2024, but we also want to take a step forward in 2025 and 2026. This will take time and will mean a transition. And I prefer to put everything into it, at the expense of improvements this year. I am also aware that we are asking the racing team and the drivers to do it with one hand tied behind their backs. But that’s okay. Nonetheless, I am convinced that our decisions will lead to long-term success,” said the Williams team manager.)
Williams hopes to score points in Las Vegas
Las Vegas is fast, which suits this FW45, just like at Monza. The low temperatures forecasted for the race on Saturday night at 10pm local time should help the British team to score more points. “The ambient temperatures can even be as low as 9 to 10 degrees Celsius, and I believe that will cover one of our weaknesses. It creates opportunities, but also risks. You saw in Qatar how much it can change over the weekend and have an impact on lap times and tire behavior,” explained James Vowles.
