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Alex Albon believes the true impact of James Vowles’ appointment as Williams team principal just under a year ago will be felt this year.
Vowles arrived at the team last February following a successful career with Mercedes where he rose to the position of head of strategy before taking on the demanding role of resurrecting the fading fortunes of a storied F1 team.
Whilst unable to have any impact on the FW45 that took to the track last year, Vowles immediately set about cutting swathes through the complex organisational processes that had developed and stymied the team over the years.
An uplift in confidence throughout the team spilled over into performance, with Williams finishing seventh in the constructors’ championship, its best placing since 2018 after finishing last in four of the previous five seasons.
Albon, who contributed 27 of the team’s 28-point total, feels there is scope for further improvement across the entire team going into 2024, and with Vowles approaching a full year in charge.
“Being totally realistic, there was only so much stuff he could have improved,” said Albon, who naturally confirmed that last year’s car had been designed the previous season, long before Vowles’ arrival.
“We have quite a long build time for our cars. We are trying to make big steps, not small, so we’re not doing little upgrades every weekend like you see with the top teams because we have so much more to achieve.
“James is also of that same approach. So who he is employing, how he’s structuring the team, let’s call it that (this year) is going to be the true year where we’re going to see what he has brought to the team.
“Of course, he’s already brought things to this team, his character as a person, the way that he talks and communicates with the team.
“There are little (technical) things, of course, like tyre knowledge, engine understanding, aero understanding that we’ve been able to implement this year.
“But there’s only so much you can do, and so the biggest steps are going to happen in 2024 and beyond. I’m pretty confident about that.”
It is expecting too much of Williams to make the kind of leap experienced by Aston Martin and McLaren last season as those two teams propelled themselves into podium-challenging positions.
Aston’s development last winter proved a major surprise, with Fernando Alonso on the podium in six of the first eight races.
McLaren had to wait until the Austrian Grand Prix, and a raft of upgrades on its car, to deliver, with the haul of points from Lando Norris from that race onwards second only to Red Bull’s three-time champion Max Verstappen.
Williams is coming from a position much further back, and with Vowles targetting the long term, so 2024 is likely to be another step in the right direction rather than an outright leap.
“I’m an inquisitive guy,” said Albon. “I asked James about that because it’s important for me to know: How are we? Where are we? Are we further behind than you thought, and is that growing or reducing with the more time you spend with the team?
“It’s interesting. There are some areas especially where we’re very strong as a team. I think we’re a very strong race team. I think we execute very well
“I don’t think there are many times where we have a bad strategy. I think we take advantage of every moment, and when we are able to score points.
“But then, of course, there are areas where we need to improve and where we are far behind. So the attention from James has definitely been on those bigger areas, where the carrot is much bigger to focus on for the long term. We attacked that straightaway.
“So it’s been interesting, speaking to him and seeing in what areas we are different, and just because we’re different, it’s not always a bad thing as well.”
