'Carlos Sainz knows what excellence looks like': James Vowles under the spell of his new driver

Already the fastest in pre-season testing in Bahrain, Carlos Sainz almost did it again in Melbourne. The outgoing winner of the Australian Grand Prix, the Spaniard was the fastest in the first free practice session of the weekend until the last minute, when his former teammate Lando Norris (McLaren) blew him the symbolic best time. The fact remains that this session, interrupted by two red flags, confirmed one of the lessons of the winter tests: the Williams is a good racing car.

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How good will this make it? It's hard to say after so little driving, but the encouraging performance of the car are also made possible thanks to the driving of Carlos Sainz. Since his first laps with the Williams in Abu Dhabi at the end of last season, the Madrilenian feels good and seems to believe firmly in the project led by James Vowles.

His commitment is returned to him by an assumed admiration of his new boss, who has fallen under the spell of his pilot, whom he fought so hard to attract in the face of competition fromAlpine and Sauber – Audi. “First of all, he was in several stables, which allowed him to understand different aspects of the sport.” begins James Vowles. "He has worked alongside several drivers who we would all consider to be at the level of a world champion (teammate of Verstappen, Leclerc and Norris, editor's note), and it has made him the driver he is today. His ability to communicate what he feels in the car is fantastic. He also understands what's going on around him in the team and knows how to take it forward. He knows what excellence looks like, what winning means and how to take us to the next level. That's one of the reasons why I wanted to make sure he was with us this year and beyond. In terms of performance, he's clearly fast on track. We already knew that, but I was really impressed, and even surprised, by his ability to interact with the aerodynamics team and engineers, and bring them on board with our collective project."

James Vowles doesn't want to get carried away with Williams' level

Despite his fine statement to his new recruit, James Vowles is keen to remain cautious about the Williams' performance. "I believe in the work we do throughout the winter, but these are just the free sessions, and we probably follow a slightly different program to some of our colleagues." tempers the former head of strategy at Mercedes, whose drivers finished 2nd and 6th in the first free practice session of the Australian Grand Prix.

"We did a good job, there's no doubt about it." James Vowles, however, assumes. “The big four like to say we’re closing in on them, but that’s not the reality of where we are right now. Our role is to make sure we close that gap. I think this season the field will be closer than ever, and it would be great to be on the brink of contention and be able to bother them from time to time. The grid is so competitive that a lot of teams will be able to do that. It doesn’t take much for a slight adjustment to set someone back a few tenths. But I think we have a good base to build on, which has always been my goal for the team.”

Williams will aim for fifth place in the Constructors' Championship this season, secured by Aston Martin in 2024. Lawrence's stable Stroll, already looking towards 2026, could lose its place to the benefit of the ambitious stables in the second part of the table that are Alpine, Williams, Racing Bulls and Haas.