Vowles: Williams and Sainz united in frustration after luckless run

Williams team principal James Vowles has thrown his support behind Carlos Sainz amid the Spaniard’s turbulent life with the British outfit, insisting that both parties are united in their frustration and determined to turn things around.

Despite flashes of brilliance from Sainz behind the wheel of the much-improved FW47, a string of unfortunate events – ranging from strategic missteps and technical glitches to ill-timed on-track clashes – has blunted what should have been a strong start to his Williams chapter.

With just 16 points in 14 races, the former Ferrari driver currently trails teammate Alex Albon by 38 points, despite often showing similar, if not superior, pace on key weekends.

“There’s a shared frustration”

Speaking during last weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, Vowles revealed the topic has been the subject of multiple conversations with Sainz in an effort to understand how to move forward.

“There’s a shared frustration between the two of us,” Vowles admitted. “There’s no doubt about it that there has been thought on all sides this year.”

“There have been moments where the car’s quick, but we’ve either crashed or something’s happened. We’ve had it wrong strategically. There’s been moments where we sat for the weekend together.

"There’s been moments where he’s been caught out multiple times in qualifying by either blocking or red flags, one of which we’ve created [Albon in Canada].”

While the team has been encouraged by Sainz’s pace – especially in clean sessions – Vowles didn’t shy away from acknowledging that the current level of execution simply hasn’t been good enough to give Sainz the platform he needs.

“He’s incredibly quick, as you can see, when everything runs smoothly. We’re just not able to get it smooth.”

“And even yesterday [Friday in Hungary], I would argue in free practice, it wasn’t smooth again. We just didn’t get everything out of the car that we could.”

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Though Vowles was reluctant to claim Sainz has had the most uneven season across the grid, he did emphasize the contrast between Sainz’s potential and his results.

“I don’t know if it’s the most up and down the grid. I suspect I’ve seen some drivers that are out in Q1 a number of times that probably shouldn’t be. That’s not normally the case with Carlos.”

“Our job now… is to provide a smooth platform”

Despite the rocky run, Vowles believes Sainz has now fully acclimated to the team and the car after his winter switch from Ferrari. But for that progress to show in the standings, Williams itself must deliver more consistently.

“I think we’re now at a stage where he understands us and he understands the car a lot more,” the Williams chief said. “It is different to where the Ferrari was.”

“We’re not going to be able to make it into the Ferrari. But as you can see, it’s still performing to the way it is.”

“I think we’ve reached that stage in the season where we’re all comfortable with it.”

The onus, Vowles emphasized, is now squarely on the team to give Sainz what he needs to extract the full performance of both himself and the FW47.

“Our job now, this is on us as a team, is [to] make sure we provide a smooth platform, no pun intended, where we are delivering so that he can deliver himself at the same time.”

As the second half of the season looms, Williams will be hoping to convert that shared frustration into fuel for a stronger finish, and finally give Sainz the luck, and the machinery, to match his raw speed.

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