Nuclear Vowles

I am complicit in the content firestorm around Carlos Sainz signing with Williams. You won’t have to sit through another one of those articles here, don’t worry.

Instead, I’m going to talk about the most interesting team principal on the grid. Yes, more interesting than Horner, Wolff, and Vasseur. 

The only one close is “local man who enjoys a good farmers market,” Mike Krack.

That joke is free. The next one will cost you.

The way he’s going about changing Williams is truly fascinating. He entered the job and basically wrote off - publicly, mind you - the next three years. This was refreshingly honest and perked up a lot of ears.

He gave Logan Sargeant a second year in the seat, which I wouldn’t have, but if we take him at his word about this first phase with Williams, he’s likely not bothered with poor results and lots of them.

This year, he’s expressed dissatisfaction - publicly, mind you - with the pace of car development at Williams. It might seem counterintuitive to his expressed lack of concern at the macro level about results. 

I disagree.

Improvements in car development capacity are a fundamental metric in a Formula 1 team year-to-year. It may be okay when your drivers are Logan and Alex and you’re scrapping for an occasional tenth. It won’t be okay when your drivers are Alex and Carlos and the 2026 engine formula means Williams is fighting a few steps up the grid with a Mercedes power unit roaring in the back of the car.

And now, in an F1Nation podcast, he’s saying bold things. 

“My belief is that I’ve signed, between the two of them, the right pairing for Williams and two drivers that will put fear into others when they’re stood next to them on the grid. That’s what I wanted.”

Here it comes….

“Yes, it creates pressure. I’ve created a small nuclear reaction. It’s all intentional and our job now is to make sure that we harness that and use it to the best of our ability.”

Let’s be really clear. These two statements are pretty outrageous things to say, and that’s not a knock on the quality of either driver. 

But ain’t nobody afraid of anybody in a Williams.

I think this is the point. Vowles has put down a marker, bright red, most likely with flashing lights.

He’s underscoring the importance of the team getting its act together fast - if the comments about slow car development didn’t do it earlier this year, and signing Carlos didn’t do it a week ago, then saying things like he did on the podcast - publicly, mind you - is going to be a common occurrence to keep the fires lit. 

If car development doesn’t improve, Vowles won’t have to worry about looking silly while his two fearsome drivers toot around the back of the grid because he’ll be looking for work.

He’s just betting a nuke that it will.