James Vowles suggests Ferrari’s choice of Lewis Hamilton over Carlos Sainz may backfire—yet it’s a boost for Williams F1.
Vowles is not convinced that Ferrari’s decision to sign Lewis Hamilton wasn’t a “mistake.”
Ultimately, it worked out well for Vowles, who heads the Williams team and brought in Carlos Sainz, displaced by the arrival of the seven-time world champion.
Ferrari’s Mistake Helps Williams
Spanish newspaper El Mundo Deportivo said to Vowles that if Ferrari truly did make a mistake with Hamilton, who has struggled in red so far, it was a “good mistake” for Williams.
“Exactly,” Vowles agreed.
But does Vowles genuinely believe Ferrari now regrets not keeping Sainz alongside Charles Leclerc?
“I can’t really tell you,” the Briton replied diplomatically.
“They had their reasons for making their decisions. Lewis is still a seven-time world champion. He still brings incredible knowledge.”
“And even though everyone talks about Lewis, he has at times pushed Charles. Ferrari did what they thought was right and gave me the opportunity to work with Carlos.”
Sainz Questions Team Orders
Williams and Sainz, however, have experienced ups and downs so far, with the Spaniard struggling to adapt to a very different car and team, and openly voicing disagreement with some recent strategic decisions.
At Imola, he admitted he nearly ignored a team order to pit.
“I almost didn’t come in,” Sainz said, “because it seemed too early. But I’m a team player. I follow orders. If the team tells me to pit, I have to comply. But I felt it wasn’t the right decision, and that turned out to be the case.”
Sainz Frustrated by Strategy
Sainz has also publicly expressed his frustration over Williams’ decision to halt development on its relatively competitive 2025 car in order to fully focus on 2026.
“It’s possible we’ll add new parts to the car after the summer break,” Vowles said today. “But they won’t be wind tunnel tested. We need the maximum number of permitted runs for 2026.”
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Winning Car Unrealistic Yet
Despite this, Vowles admits that producing a winning car for next season is an “overly ambitious” goal for Williams.
“We have too many things not yet in place to build a winning car for 2026. Simply too many.”
“Mercedes, McLaren, Red Bull, and Ferrari currently have far more structured systems than we do, but we’re well on our way to closing the gap. Still, they won’t be fully operational by 2026, maybe not even by 2027. I see those systems being fully in place by 2028.”
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