Williams reveal to 'flushing out demons' as Mercedes provide vital help

James Vowles has explained that all was not lost by Williams failing to run in last week's shakedown test in Barcelona.

Despite the team being one of the first to stop development on last year's car, Williams was the only team that did not take to the track at the Circuit de Catalunya across the five available days of running.

However, the Williams team principal has explained that his team was not idol, as it still conducted considerable running behind the scenes via the aid of a VTT [Virtual Track Test], an advanced simulation rig that tests a near-complete car - power unit, gearbox, and chassis - off-track to validate components and systems under simulated loads and conditions.

Williams was also given a considerable helping hand by power unit supplier Mercedes, which ran for 502 reliable laps, providing invaluable data. McLaren and Alpine, two additional teams running on Mercedes power this year, added another 632 laps.

On the day Williams launched its livery for this season, speaking to a select group of media, including RacingNews365, Vowles said: "I would much preferred to have been in Barcelona. That was the goal. That was what we were intending to do. We did not achieve it."

Vowles hailed the VTT running as "successful", whilst drivers Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon also ran extensively in the driver-in-the-loop simulator.

"In addition, we are fortunate that Mercedes had sufficient runners that there was quite a bit of information coming back on both the gearbox and the power unit that enables us to get ahead when we come to Bahrain," added Vowles, referring to the two three-day tests coming up this month.

"I do not believe, with six days of testing, will be on the back foot now. A little bit of that's fortune, because the power unit is reliable, the gearbox is reliable, and the VTT testing flushed out a lot of the demons that are buried in the car.

"What's missing is a lot of knowledge for the drivers to inherently perfect what's going on on track. What's missing is a correlation for where our aerodynamics really are, and a correlation for where our vehicle dynamics really are. Track data is the only way of establishing that.

"So there is a loss, but with six days of testing, with our driver-in-the-loop simulator that we invested in, which is state of the art and was up and running at the end of last year and is benchmarking the business, I'm very confident we are able to mitigate a lot of that [loss]."

Bahrain set for 'high-level mileage'

Vowles feels across the six days in Bahrain, the number of laps likely to be completed by all 11 laps will be considerable.

He also believes that whilst Mercedes ran reliably, so did its rivals - Ferrari and Red Bull Powertrains, in particular - whilst there is clearly more to come from Audi and Honda.

 "In terms of what my expectations are for Bahrain, first and foremost, we've seen the Mercedes power unit is reliable," he said. "Now there'll still be demons locked inside it.

"That's what testing is for. That's why we have a further six days. So it's flushing those out, but it's already a good baseline to work with. Same with the gearbox.

"What you'll see is mileage accumulation at a very high level, not what you would normally expect at the beginning of a whole new power unit era.

"If you wind all the way back to 2014, Mercedes was again impressive in that regard, but most others weren't. That's part of the advantage that I think that's gone now.

"I think you'll see a lot of PU manufacturers out of the box able to do the mileage. So now it's more about how do you optimise it? How do you use your electrical energy? How do you get the most out of the car?"