Vowles: Track results don't reflect changes behind the scenes

Williams finished the 2024 Formula 1 season ninth in the constructors' standings, having scored points in five races, with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix being their best, with both Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto scoring.

But Vowles claims there have been a lot of improvement and change within the team, which was not reflected by the results on track.

"The main thing is this: a lot of the really positive bits the world can't see,” Vowles Motorsport.com. "I can walk around the building and just see excellence that has race-winning pedigree all a part of our team now.

"I can see a change in what we're doing with infrastructure, culture, people, commercial even – it's just a different world.

"I've always said the journey is 2023, ‘24, ’25 – they're just progression and the track results won't necessarily reflect the really big changes going on behind the scenes," he insisted.

"Do I think ninth fully reflects what we've achieved? No. There’s some really good technology gains coming through and there’s some really great things coming in the future. That’s what my focus has been on.

"Does it frustrate me we’re ninth? Yes, absolutely, because I still like to come to the race weekend and get everything out of it, and we haven't this year.

"We've been really hurt by quite significant amounts of attrition," the Briton pointed out. "We've been hurt by [our] own changing technologies that produced a car that wasn't on the weight limit and we just haven't been able to show the world what we can do.

"And then you get the odd races where people can see, ‘Williams is able to get into Q3 pretty much the whole time’, but we’re not delivering it.

"That will always harbor frustration, but it's overwhelmed by the positive news behind the scenes. The only way the world will really see it is through progress now chunking in 2025, ‘26, ‘27."

Williams made Q3 seven times in 2024, but while they did not capitalize on that, Vowles insists on seeing the glass half full; he added: "I'm going to remember we were up there in second in Brazil qualifying before Alex had an accident.

"We were up there in Q3 potential in Las Vegas with Franco before we had an accident. I hate to always bring it back to an accident, but it’s the story of the year.

"We have to remember that the pace is there, but we're not delivering on it as well. And that's a team. I never put any onus on any one individual. That's the team that is fundamentally – we're not quite delivering it all together. And that's the secret behind it.

"We need everything to move forward together. You need your reliability, your design, your performance, your drivers, your holistic strategy, how it all comes together, to move forward at the right rate," Vowles concluded.

Williams will reveal their 2024 F1 challenger, the FW47, on Valentine's Day.