Williams F1 boss James Vowles believes his team won’t challenge for the F1 world championship this year but insists aspects of their 2026 car are “championship level.”
Vowles opted to withdraw his team from last week’s first pre-season test in Barcelona, citing delays to the new car as the main reason before elaborating that he is keen to “push the boundaries” in the car design.
Williams officially launched their car, the FW48, on Tuesday at the start of a year Vowles has long been targeting as a springboard for future success, particularly with their impressive driver line-up of Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon.
But while Vowles doesn’t expect his team, who announced Barclays as a new sponsor this week, to challenge for the world title, they are on the right trajectory.
"We want to establish 2025 [team finished fifth in the constructors’ title] as our new base and keep moving forward year on year across the board and across the business,” Vowles said, when asked by The Independent about a potential title challenge.
"There are some bits of the car that are absolutely championship level. And there's other bits where we have a long way to go before we're there, including just getting the car built and finished as a polished article. That doesn't lead to podiums or wins.
“What I've really indicated is that our baseline is one that I want to build forward from, in every metric capable and possible, be that on lap time or fighting our competitors.
“It's just such a murky horizon at the moment that it's impossible to say whether there's 10 teams in front of us, or four teams, or two teams, and that's the element that will really stop shaking out across Bahrain.”
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Vowles also praised Aston Martin’s unique design, unveiled in Barcelona last week. “I wouldn't want to be a designer in Aston Martin, that's a very impressive set of wishbones on that car,” he added. “Really, really intrinsic or interesting design.
“What I will say is that the performance teams are finding is strong, which means whatever order is in Bahrain may not be the order in Melbourne and may not be the order at round three or round four.
“So that's the other element of a new regulation cycle. That’s why everyone's a little bit struggling to tell where everything is at the moment.”
Vowles confirmed the team will take to the track at the next pre-season test in Bahrain, 11-13 February. The 2026 season starts with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on 8 March.
