Things have been going uphill since James Vowles took over the Williams team and at Zandvoort both drivers reached the qualifying final for the first time in a long time, and Alex Albon usually starts from the second row. However, Vowles is willing to admit that weather conditions, not just actual work, contributed to this.
Q: Alex’s 4th result is an impressive achievement! Did you expect to reach such a high position?
James Vowles: I think during the preparation for Zandvoort we didn’t think that our strengths would show up on this track, although we noticed from the first practice that everything was going well for us and that the tires on the FW45 are working very efficiently. This allowed us to immediately lay a good foundation and we felt that we could work better than usual.
Moreover, the weather conditions were also favorable to us. If qualifying took place on a dry track, we could hardly count on the 4th result. Alex and the whole team did a great job today.
Q: Do you think it helped that the conditions were constantly changing, and even at the end of qualifying the track wasn’t completely dry?
James Vowles: I think the balance of the car was chosen very correctly and the tires functioned properly. On Friday, during the second training session, we paid much more attention to the preparation for qualifying than the opponents. As a result, we managed to reach higher positions than the machine’s capabilities allow, and we understand this.
We have really improved from the previous stage, but not enough to get into the top five. And yet we managed to solve this difficult problem.
Question: After such results in qualifying, it will be difficult for you to convince other teams that Williams should spend more money on infrastructure upgrades!
James Vowles: Luckily we have the money, but we just need their support so we can upgrade our base. But the reality is this team has been through hardships over the years, and I’m proud of the way they’re working now to finally get through that. It’s great that we can already squeeze everything out of the car, but as always we strive for more.
And while we now have reason to celebrate, we understand that on a “normal” weekend we will return to our previous positions in the second ten, which are not right for us. Now our task is to bring about further changes for the better, for which it is necessary to invest the resources we have in the right way.
Q: Is your team hoping for tomorrow’s race to be run in the rain?
James Vowles: We are ready to work in all conditions, but I am happy that our riders are starting from good positions.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
