Determined to be on the pace from the get-go in 2026, James Vowles admits that Williams may well face a tough 2025.

Currently eighth in the team standings and targeting Haas and RB, now that it has two point-scoring drivers, James Vowles admits that the focus on a significant leap forward under the new regulations may compromise its 2025 season, which is not the news that newcomer Carlos Sainz will want to hear.

"It's the message that Alex and Carlos both know, 2025 will be a struggle, I think," Vowles tells Autosport. "It's not that you're going to see us moving forward, we're going to move back a little bit," he admits.

"And if we are, I'm okay with that," he continues, "because it simply says that I'm investing at the right rate for '26 compared to those around me.

"That's what we should be expecting from it," he insists, "we are going to compromise '25. That doesn't mean we'll be tenth, but it's going to be a hard year."

Following an impressive debut season under Vowles, 2024 has been a struggle for Williams, not least at the start when spares were in short supply and a number of parts were fount to be overweight. Then there was Logan Sargeant.

"I think we were fortunate to finish seventh last year," says Vowles. "RB was bloody quick at the end of the year, and it was really just a matter of one strategic call, almost, that defined who finished ahead in the championship. We still finished seventh.

"I think I was quite open in how overweight we were," he adds, referring to this year's car. "Just take that time off and you'll see that we shouldn't be where we are in the championship.

"Now that we've had the performance - taking the weight off the car - we're back to where I would have expected us to be, which is therefore not a step backwards.

"We are trying to do leaps," he says of the plan over the coming seasons, "not steps forward, not inching forward, not minimal gains, or marginal gains even, but leaps in the technology and what we're doing.

"And in doing so, we're going to trip ourselves up," he admits. "I'm comfortable with that, because we can't unlearn what we've learned.

"I give you almost a guarantee," he continues, "unfortunately we're going to trip ourselves again. It won't be in '25, for what it's worth. I think we've got enough of a good pathway to lead us there.

"In '26, what we're asking of the organisation is more than we can deliver. So we've got to make it fit or perhaps trip up a little bit along the way."