James Vowles: A Tough Weekend

      At Williams, no points were earned in Silverstone. On Sunday, Carlos Sainz finished 12th, while Alex Albon retired due to the aftermath of a start-line crash…

      James Vowles, team principal: “A tough weekend at the legendary circuit. Carlos did everything right, but the car is not fast enough. Although we improved its efficiency this weekend, making a small step forward, other teams made more significant progress. We need to carefully analyze this situation – and understand if we are really getting the speed we expected.

      Thanks to Alex, who after the incident on the first lap, when he had no chance of points left, continued to gather important data on the behavior of the new parts that will help us understand where we need to improve. Thank you to all our fans in Silverstone – it’s one of the best races in the world, and it’s a great honor and pleasure for us to be here with hundreds of thousands of people supporting us.”

      Carlos Sainz (12th, 17th after a penalty): “The weekend turned out to be much more challenging than we expected. We need to figure out what’s wrong with the car, understand why the update didn’t meet expectations – this is a signal for us to take action.

      In the race, I had a good start, overtook everyone I could to get into the top ten, and then defended my tenth place as hard as I could, but the car lacked the speed to hold off the competitors.

      I feel like I’m performing at a high level, and the team also worked to the limit to bring two new front wings here. But we need a deep analysis of what’s happening with the car, as it seriously lacks speed.”

      Alex Albon (retirement): “Unfortunately, I had a poor start and made a mistake on the first lap that led to damage to the front wing. I had to make an early pit stop, then I got caught in a chain of blue flags and couldn’t catch up with the pack, so I used the remaining distance to gather information on the behavior of the new front wing.

      Testing the new parts reflects the essence of this part of the season – we are focused on gathering information and understanding the situation so that when we present more serious updates, we will be in better shape. I’m disappointed with the result, but we will analyze the situation and prepare for the race in Spa.”