Williams focused on long-term improvements, not short-term gains

Williams boss James Vowles says the British outfit clearly won’t sacrifice its long-term development for short-term gains.

After several years of underperformance and financial distress, Williams was acquired in the summer of 2020 by firm Dorilton Capital which has sought to turn around the fortunes of Grand Prix racing's third most successful team.

The US private equity firm has deployed significant capital in the past two years and undertaken management changes in its bid to transform the Grove-based outfit from an also-ran competitor into a top midfield contender.

Vowles, who left Mercedes at the start of the year, has been tasked with taking the team to the next level.

But that ambitious mission will require a development programme that will unfold over several seasons, meaning that all of Williams strategic and management decisions are now guided by long-term considerations.

“Basically the intent within the organisation is incredibly clear: if you have a choice between making a decision that improves us next week or one that can improves us significantly more in six, twelve or twenty-four months you go with the latter,” said Vowles last week in Bahrain.

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“You still have a wind tunnel that has to go through the process it normally would do to evaluate performance and that will I’m sure result in performance we can add to the car this year.

“Furthermore, there’s some elements that aren’t quite optimised and again those don’t necessarily have a large cost on next year’s performance package but allows the learning to move forward and that’s where we’ll invest our time and money.”

However, one short term issue that Vowles must address is the team’s current lack of a technical director, a void created by the departure at the end of last year of François-Xavier Demaison.

“The team is definitely under strain at the moment to ensure we’re filling those voids the best we can,” acknowledged Vowles.

“We certainly are not going to shortcut it to fill technical roles with people that can give us six months rather than 12 or 24, we will find the right people and put the right people in place,” he said.

“I’m a firm believer in fundamentally ensuring that we have growth within our sport. There are some incredible individuals that are ready to be technical directors.

“First and foremost, it’ll be someone with Formula 1 experience, it won’t be someone from outside of our sport.

“It could be someone who has been in the role and wants a change of scenery or someone that has been really up against a glass ceiling and is ready in waiting and has the ability to do so but hasn’t had the opportunity.”

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