Williams – the second most successful Formula 1 team of all time in terms of nine constructors’ titles – is in crisis. There is no longer any trace of the glorious era in the 1980s and 1990s. The traditional racing team from Grove finished at the bottom of the World Championship table in four of the last six seasons. Performance is lacking. Team boss James Vowles went troubleshooting and identified a chronic problem: the car had been overweight for years.
Years of struggle: Williams has been over the weight limit since 2019
“We have produced cars that are not at the weight limit. Every year since 2019, none of the cars have reached the weight limit, but have been well above it,” Vowles clarified. In preparation for this year’s season, Williams has focused on this very issue and has also achieved initial success: “The change we made between 2023 and 2024 was that we took 14 kilograms out of the chassis. Everyone in the industry, Anyone who knows these numbers will recognize that this is an extraordinary achievement that the team did very well.”
Despite the weight reduction on the chassis, the car became heavier due to other technical solutions that were implemented to improve it. According to Vowles, Williams now has a much better package. With the improved technology, “we have given Alex a car that is much better balanced,” said the team boss. He therefore wants to move forward with confidence: “What I’m not interested in is what happened. It’s about how we move forward with this problem.”
James Vowles: Gradual weight loss begins in Imola
The restructuring measures in the team of Alexander Albon and Logan Sargeant have already begun: “Imola is the beginning of the weight reduction. This will now continue in the next six races – in all possible ways,” announced Vowles before the Grand Prix Emilia-Romagna announced a gradual weight loss.
Things haven’t been going quite well for Williams at the Imola track lately either. You can read all about it here:
After a disastrous start to the season, the Williams boss reflected on the team’s setbacks: “What hindered us is that at the beginning of the season we had four gearbox failures that could no longer be repaired. We have five underbody, four front wings, four rear wings and some other parts damaged. Every team in the field will say that they can’t handle that, plus the effort and the performance we handicapped ourselves.”
The costs caused by the series of damages also affect other areas such as reducing the weight of the car, as Vowles explained: “Williams has worked with great people on options for many years, but taking weight out of the car is incredibly expensive. A lot of it What we’re doing is taking weight out. But it’s very inefficient to do that.” Williams is now changing its strategy to become more efficient and to create a basis on which resources can be better used, Vowles continued.
Structural change at Williams: Top personnel from Red Bull and Ferrari are coming
He gave insights into the team’s long-term plans and in particular the structural changes being made by Williams to become more competitive: “When I joined the organization there were 700 employees. Now there are over 1,000 and we are not finished yet with the hiring process. Our operational area, i.e. the areas of the company that produce the car, has undergone a significant change. We work under different management, there are different structures there.
That is why Vowles now has full confidence in production. The foundation that has now been created was missing until now. This is the crucial point of Williams’ lack of competitiveness this year, said the team boss. But now it is the case that “we are no longer building anything on a sinking basis” and the next step is coming: “We are lucky that some really good people from Red Bull and Ferrari join us. This will be a core that will allow excellence to be distributed throughout the organization. The more you have of that, the more you’re able to get the team to where we need to be.”
Not only the staff in the various departments, but also the staff in the Williams cockpit has increasingly been an issue in recent weeks. Is Mick Schumacher coming for Logan Sargeant now? We talked to our expert Christian Danner about it:
Williams’ vision: not just imitate Red Bull, but surpass it
Williams is not interested in copying the top teams and catching up with them. Instead, to get to that level in the long term, they need to outperform them now. “We’re looking at how we can not only compete with Red Bull – and by that I mean not only do we have the same facilities as them – but what we need to do to actually be further than them. Because if I do exactly the same thing “Buying what they have today gives them about a five-year head start on learning how to use these products,” Vowles said.
Williams’ ambitions are big: “The fundamental change is the journey we take to go beyond that. The investment is there and the changes are about how we move from our current operations into modernization. The transformation means “We’re now adding technologies that allow us to evolve from where we are today. We’re not just copying what others are doing, we’re going beyond it.”
Competitive in 2026? The way to the top is long
What James Vowles impressively demonstrates with Williams is the size, complexity but also inertia of a Formula 1 team. Solving a seemingly superficial problem such as vehicle overweight often requires profound, well-coordinated and long-term planned changes in the company structure. Lead time is the be-all and end-all, which is why Vowles doesn’t assume that they will be able to implement everything by 2026. “Everything would mean winning world championships. That won’t be the case until 2026. Am I confident that we can create structures that will no longer fizzle out? Yes. We can do that by 2026,” said Vowles .
Due to the rapid pace of development of the midfield teams, Vowles did not dare to make a prediction about Williams’ competitiveness in the summer of 2024: “The truth is that the development rates in the midfield are enormous at the moment. Now we have already lost a few kilos since the beginning of the season. It “It’s not the first step we took to get here, it’s just a very big step.”
“The midfield is developing at a pace that is difficult to keep up with. You can see how RB has moved forward, you can see how Haas has moved forward. That’s one level higher in each case. Clean is a step up. The aerodynamic development is very strong at the moment. So a lot depends on what the others have up their sleeves. That’s the story of the season, I think What I can say is that the cars don’t sit still. They move very quickly.” Formula 1 remains dynamic as always and Williams hopes to be able to keep up in the future with a new, clear strategy.