'A step in the right direction but not enough' – Vowles assesses impact of Williams' Baku upgrade

Williams Team Principal James Vowles believes the major new upgrade the squad brought to Baku is a "step in the right direction, but not enough".

It has been a difficult season so far for the Grove-based outfit, with development delays forcing them to miss the Barcelona Shakedown while their performance has been hampered by an overweight car.

Despite those difficulties, Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon have managed to get 11 points on the board in the early races but, since Monaco, they have failed to score anything.

The team has been promising a major upgrade for Azerbaijan for months, having made the early decision to focus more of its research and development resources for one big roll of the dice. It sees a revised and lighter chassis and a new aero package.

However, when speaking to F1 TV after first practice in Baku, Vowles emphasised that while they are hoping for improvements for the remainder of the season, the upgrade is also with the long term in mind.

“It’s more about building for next year and beyond," said Vowles. "It’s not where I would ever want it to be, or the drivers want it to be, but it is still fantastic work by the team to really redevelop an entirely new chassis in-season. So, a step in the right direction, but not enough.”

The first chance to see the new and improved FW48 in action was in FP1, which saw Sainz finish in 12th and Albon in 13th – two tenths off the top 10. The session also saw an issue with the Spaniard’s brakes as they caught fire in the pit lane after just 15 minutes of running.

Elaborating further after that first practice session, the Williams boss explained that the drivers are still cautious about their expectations for the performances to come.

“There’s pride, because it’s been a difficult, difficult start to the year and we’re starting to get our head above water," he said. "But we’ve got two hungry drivers and a hungry team that want so much more. For them right now, it was, ‘Yep, slightly better. Let’s keep moving.’”

Speaking after FP2, with Albon and Sainz finishing in 16th and 17th respectively, the Spaniard detailed how the upgrade felt like a step forward but a lack of running in both sessions meant they'd need FP3 on Friday to evaluate everything properly.

"In general I feel a bit better with the car, and it seems like we are a bit closer to the midfield," Sainz said. "The laps that I’ve done have been relatively competitive, given how important track time is here, and normally you always feel like you’re playing catch-up.

"For how much catch-up I’m playing, I feel like I’m in a good place now. We need to do the right steps going into tomorrow."

The new lighter chassis is a huge part of the upgrade, but Vowles was keeping quiet about the techniques they used to shave off the kilograms – simply stating it was achieved in a way that he can guarantee was not being done up and down the pit lane. However, the Briton admitted he felt relieved about the way the team stepped up to the challenge.

“It’s a lot of weight to take out, and with chassis, you go through such difficult FIA tests," he detailed. "They did a great job with that. They really pushed themselves. Now we need to apply that not just to one object, but really the whole concept of the car from start to finish.”

Vowles also repeated his previous assertion that the full focus was on the future, saying they need to make steps and that the team are not going to do that by trying to scrabble for one or two positions in the championship this year. When asked if there was a chance of points in Baku, Vowles was wary of raising expectations.

“Whenever you run a new aero package like this, I assure you, right now the engineers will be just in the minutiae of detail — and that’s what they should be doing — but you don’t get it right first time," he said.

"Just even when you position the ride height of the car, the balance of the car, so there’ll be a little bit more to come from that relative to other teams that have that package. Let’s see, but it’s not enough to be far enough ahead to guarantee points.”