“We are here for the long term” - Williams looking to sacrifice 2023 season for a better future

Williams Racing is working with a long-term plan in place, according to team principal James Vowels.

The first race of the 2023 season saw Williams surprise many by scoring points through Alex Albon's P10 finish, a result that has reignited enthusiasm in the team and strengthened their belief that they can fight the midfield teams.

The excellent result at the Bahrain International Circuit, however, has not changed the team's plans as Williams still intends to sacrifice 2023 to lay solid foundations for the future.

Vowles explained (via it.motorsport):

“The [2023] car is a prototype, thousands of pieces joined together at the same time. And if you stay still, static, without making improvements or changes, you will slide back into the grid. With these regulations, first of all we have to fully understand how the tires work, how to get the most out of the tyres, how to improve the balance. This is the first area we pay attention to.”

He added:

“The second is to make sure we have good performance every weekend. The third is to be able to learn as much as possible for the next ones, so in every Grand Prix we not only learn something from that race weekend, but also for the following weekends and years.”

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Former F1 driver Anthony Davidson backs Williams team principal James Vowles to emulate Mercedes role

Former Formula 1 driver Anthony Davidson has tipped James Vowles to succeed in his new role as Williams' team principal.

Williams parted ways with Jost Capito at the end of 2022 and replaced him with Vowles, who previously worked with Mercedes as their race strategist. He has also worked as an engineer at the British American Racing and Honda Racing F1 teams, and as a race strategist at Brawn GP.

Former British racing driver Davidson has tipped Vowles to do well in his new role with Williams. He said (via Sky Sports):

"I think James Vowles has always been an ambitious character. I think his natural career progression had came to an end at Mercedes, unless Toto steps down. Which Toto said, 'Yeah he's going to take my job. That's the only place for him to go if he wants even more from this team.'"

He added:

"James Vowles is used to (being) chief strategist, he built a team around him. For the last couple of seasons, he wasn't actually the guy on the pit wall. He had built the team up, so he's used to recruiting people and using that strategic brain that he has, I just hope he can do the same thing at Williams, but as a whole."