Williams soft tyre qualifying woes cost points in Austin - Vowles

Williams managed to score a solitary point in last weekend’s United States Grand Prix, courtesy of Franco Colapinto’s effort, but team boss James Vowles believes there would have been more on the table if the team had performed better in qualifying.

Alex Albon and Colapinto were both left stranded in Q1 in Austin as they struggled with the balance of their car. However, the Anglo-Thai racer’s final push lap in the opening segment was also impacted by traffic.

Vowles reckons that the FW46’s pace was strong enough to fight for higher positions, but a recurring issue with extracting grip from the Soft tyre left its divers starting further back on the grid than they should have.

Reflecting on the weekend, Vowles emphasized the team’s ongoing difficulties in optimizing the car’s performance on Pirelli’s red-walled compound during qualifying sessions

“I think the race pace would have shown you that we’re there or thereabouts in terms of the car working, but we’re not able to get it all right for one lap in a qualifying condition,” he stated in a video released by Williams.

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While Williams’ contender has shown competitive speed over longer stints, Vowles took responsibility for the qualifying struggles, emphasizing that the car’s performance needs to be consistent across all track conditions and tyre choices.

“So nothing really to do with the circuit, and even if it was, it’s our responsibility and duty to make sure we have a car that’s working everywhere and we can set it up well,” he explained.

“This, very specifically, was down to not extracting performance or grip from that soft tyre”

Vowles noted that the Medium compound ended up delivering better results in qualifying trim than the soft compound, which isn’t the expected outcome.

“Probably as extreme as, actually for us, the medium was faster than a soft in a qualifying condition,” he added. “And it shouldn’t be, it should be a large grip step, which is what most other teams have experienced.”

Despite these struggles, Vowles expressed optimism about the underlying strength of the car’s race package.

“But the base package, the package that allowed us to score a point is still very much there or thereabouts. If we qualified in position, I’m sure we would have the opportunity to score more again.”

Williams sporting director Sven Smeets singled out the team’s Soft tyre issue as a matter on which the Grove-based outfit will be focused this weekend in Mexico City.

“We are looking forward to racing in Mexico this weekend,” he said in the team’s race weekend preview. “This unique track with its incredible arena and passionate fans always delivers surprises and a great race.

“As we return to a normal race weekend format, we will be focusing on improving our performance on the Soft compound as we struggled on it last weekend.

“The high altitude will bring its own challenges and with the battle in the midfield being tight every millisecond will count to be able to be in the fight for points.”

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