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F1 analyst took a dig at former driver Ralf Schumacher for calling out Williams' team principal James Vowles to "look after himself."
Williams has been in a difficult position early into the 2024 F1 season, with extensive damage to both cars within the first four rounds and scoring no points. The team permitted Alex Albon to drive his teammates' car in Australia after he damaged his car's chassis during practice, hoping to score even the minimal points but failed to do so.
Talking to Sky Germany earlier, Ralf Schumacher, who also raced for the team for six years in the early 2000s, called out team principal James Vowles. He stated that the team might not be interested in keeping his services after the poor start.
"I think [Vowles] has to look after himself a bit now. I wouldn't be surprised that he's not necessarily on [Williams'] owner's bestsellers list."
Reacting to this, F1 analyst Joe Saward revealed that the team is happy to have Vowles and there is nothing against him or the way the team functions under him. Saward added that Ralf Schumacher is taking "revenge" on the team for not signing Mick Schumacher, his nephew.
"I don't think anyone will pay much attention to Ralf. I spoke to Williams bosses in Japan and they were fully behind Vowles. Williams probably turned down Mick and this is Uncle Ralf's idea of revenge..."
Mick Schumacher was without a seat after the 2022 season when Haas did not extend his contract. He was soon signed by Mercedes as their reserve driver but hasn't raced in F1 since. Williams, meanwhile, signed rookie Logan Sargeant.
James Vowles talks about the consistency of the Williams' FW46
The UK-based team is one of the three teams that is yet to score any points and are placed at the bottom of the table. Along with them stand Sauber and Alpine, with the latter having a serious decline in performance compared to 2023.
Although Alex Albon was close to scoring points on two different occasions (Australian and Jeddah) with a P11 finish, that has been their best result so far.
Despite this, team principal James Vowles drew out a positive aspect, revealing that the car's performance has been rather consistent.
"The strength of the car is that we have been able to find a balance on all the circuits we have visited so far, which are quite different from each other. In terms of performance, it does not go up and down and we have been fairly consistent," Vowles said.
He further added that the car was strong enough to compete for points in most races.
"And with the exception from Australia, we have always had a car with which we could fight for points if everything had been completely perfect. That was not the case in Melbourne, we were just not fast enough there."
