Vowles prepared to 'break' Williams in performance pursuit

Williams boss James Vowles is content to 'break' the team to ensure it can move forward and become an established midfield runner.

Vowles replaced Jost Capito as Team Principal for 2023 with the team enjoying a relatively successful season with 21 points on the board, as of the Japanese Grand Prix, with the team on course for its best season since finishing fifth in 2017.

The former Mercedes strategist has talked about the need to rebuild Williams' internal infrastructure after years of under-investment and resetting the culture.

Pat Fry has been signed as Chief Technical Officer, with Alexander Albon impressing as one of the drivers of the season, hauling all 21 points so far.

But Vowles is not content with the progress made in his first year, and believes the team must be prepared to break the way it works to move forwards.

Vowles determined to smash Williams

"The car that we have, that is it, and unlike Haas, who are a fierce adversary, we don't have anything coming for the remainder of the year," Vowles told media including RacingNews365.

"We have to try to pick up the points that are going to be available to us when they are available to us.

"The focus – and not just now, but actually from a while back – has been on 2024, and actually part of the focus on ’25 and on ’26 as well.

"At the moment, we're in a fierce battle for this 10th, ninth, eighth, seventh [in the Constructors'], and we want the team to be in a fierce battle for positions above there.

"You can't do that by continuously developing what you have at the moment. You do that by thinking forward into the future, and that will have a cost associated with it, potentially even going backwards for a year, but to go forward again in the future.

"There's too much that we're changing, as a fundamental, and you can't do the two things at the same time.

"I’d much rather focus on breaking systems and rebuilding them rather than trying to make do."