Playing the long game – How new boss James Vowles is plotting Williams’ return to form

Circa 15,000 bespoke components neatly fit together to make a modern-day Formula 1 car. Most teams have a software system that itemises every single part, logging the number of spares for each, where they are located and the history of use. It’s considered a basic requirement of F1 team – and one that is necessary considering cars are built, stripped and updated multiple times a week.

Williams does not have that system. That the British team has put a car on track every other weekend, with this year’s model in contention for points in each of the first three Grands Prix of 2023, is remarkable.