Vowles praises Williams factory heroics despite Baku upgrade yielding just one point

Williams left Baku with just one championship point from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, but team principal James Vowles was keen to highlight the scale of the factory effort that made the weekend’s major upgrade package possible.

The Grove outfit arrived at the Baku City Circuit with one of the most comprehensive updates of their season: two new chassis, an extensive weight-saving programme, and a revised aerodynamic configuration — all delivered simultaneously and at pace.

“First and foremost, thank you to everyone who has been working diligently day and night to achieve the update that we brought here this weekend,” Vowles said in an Instagram video. “It’s no mean feat to bring two new chassis, take a large amount of weight out of a package, and an aerodynamic update at the same time, deliver all of that to Baku. And we started speaking about this a few months ago, but it’s really fantastic to see it delivered here this weekend.”

The upgrade showed genuine promise in qualifying, with Carlos Sainz advancing to Q3. Race day, however, proved far more difficult. Sainz salvaged a 10th-place finish for a single point, though at the time of writing he was under investigation for an alleged practice start infringement. Team-mate Alex Albon’s afternoon ended abruptly when a gust of wind sent him into the wall on lap 31.

“The race was really up and down, and at certain points, with Carlos, for example, we really couldn’t find the performance that was there in qualifying,” Vowles acknowledged. “I think we have some direction on that already, but well done to Carlos for fighting to the very end for that point.”

On Albon’s retirement, Vowles was philosophical about the unforgiving nature of street circuits. “He was driving incredibly well. A gust of wind fundamentally meant that he was unable to slow the car sufficiently and went into the wall. That is just a factor of Baku — these sorts of elements get punished quite hard.”

Williams will need to rebuild Albon’s car ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix next week, the second round of a triple-header. Vowles described Baku as a “solid start” while conceding there is still meaningful work ahead for the team.