Vowles: In motorsport, everyone has bad weekends.

      James Voules, head of Williams Racing, admits that the team expected to perform much better in Bahrain, but the events of last weekend developed in such a way that these hopes did not come true. Partly because of mistakes, partly because of circumstances.

      As a result, Alex Albon took 12th place, and Carlos Sainz retired from the race on lap 45 due to damage sustained by his car.

      James Voules: "Unfortunately, the end of the Bahrain weekend upset us. When we arrived at this stage, I had high hopes, because in the winter tests that took place on this track, our car was fast, but in these few days we did not work out the best.

      When summarizing the results, it is impossible to single out any one unsuccessful aspect - as always, it is necessary to evaluate many aspects in a complex, but the conclusion is this: in order to count on points with such a high density of results, you need to act perfectly in everything.

      Unfortunately, in Alex's case, the difficulties started even in qualifying. We didn't do everything right, because of this, his exit lap wasn't perfect, the tires didn't warm up well enough, and besides, Nico Hulkenberg drove a lap that was then canceled, but because of it, Alex lost the opportunity to go into the next session. Although the speed of the car clearly made it possible to reach the final.

      If we talk about Carlos, he showed a good result on Saturday, but during the race he was in an unfavorable position due to contact with Yuki Tsunoda's car. Due to the loss of downforce, his pace dropped by about a second, and after that, Carlos could do nothing, actually turning into a passenger.

      For Alex, we tried to use tactics different from those preferred by the rivals, and his first stretch on soft tires was extended. Initially, it seemed that this tactic worked well, because we saw that the tires on the cars he was fighting were more worn out. Thanks to the fact that we put a set of hard tires on his Williams for the middle part of the race, we got the opportunity to switch back to Soft at the end of the Grand Prix.

      But when a safety car appeared on the track, it neutralized the development of the race, after which Alex found himself outside the top ten, and there were many cars in front of him that he could not beat.

      But in motorsport, everyone has bad weekends, it must be borne in mind, but the character of a team is determined by how it overcomes difficulties, learns from its mistakes, draws conclusions and moves on. In just a week in Saudi Arabia, we will have the opportunity to prove that we can do it all.

      So I'm looking forward to next weekend and I still think we have a good car, but we have to work more efficiently."