'We're in trouble here' – Vowles reveals how he told Sainz and Albon of problems facing Williams in 2026

James Vowles has revealed how he told Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon that Williams would face problems under the new-for-2026 Formula 1 regulations, and how their responses meant he was "knocked off my feet".

Much was expected of Williams this season, with Team Principal Vowles having publicly declared midway through the 2025 campaign that all focus had already shifted to its 2026 challenger.

But problems surfaced early in pre-season, as the team missed the first shakedown in Barcelona and it quickly became apparent that despite running the Mercedes power unit, the FW48 was severely overweight and lacking performance.

Speaking on the latest episode of official F1 podcast Beyond the Grid, Vowles has revealed the difficult moment he had to tell Sainz and Albon that the team would be off the pace this season.

“There were several calls," said Vowles. "The first call was around December time, saying, ‘we're in trouble here. I'm not sure what the impact on Barcelona (shakedown) is. The car's going to be heavy. Not sure the final amount at this point in time, but I'm preparing you. It's going to be difficult.

"And then again in January and it will stick with me forever, both phone calls, and you'll see why. I called Alex and before I'd finished my sentence, he said, ‘I'm with you. I'm here to support you. What can I do to help?’ And I was a little bit knocked off my feet, if I'm completely honest.

"Typically, you've got high-performance machines, which are drivers, and the first thing they'll say is probably a few expletives followed by, ‘what happened? What went on here?’ And it wasn't that. It was, ‘we're a unified group. We're in a difficult position right now. What can I do to help?’.

"Carlos, very similar. A few more questions from him, ‘where are we here? What do you know about that? What's going on here?’ And then, ‘how can I help?’."

The team has struggled throughout this season, securing just 12 points across the campaign so far with a best result of P8, all of which has left the squad P9 in the teams' standings.

Despite the difficulties, Vowles praised the behaviour of Sainz and Albon in motivating the team during a difficult period and as it looks to move further up the grid.

"Both of them flew to the UK pretty quickly after that point in time and were with the team," he said.

"One of the best things that they could have ever done, because the team, when it's absolutely punched in the stomach, bent over double, had two individuals turn up and go, ‘we're here. We're with you. We can do this. We can pull ourselves through this. We know it's not going to be one month or three months. It's going to take time, but we're here'.

"And that was reaffirmed in this August break. I can't stress how important that was for the organisation to see that these drivers are not here for a blip. They're here because they believe in what the team is achieving and want to be a part of it at the same time.

"That is leadership. If you want me to describe leadership in 30 seconds, it's that your self-interests disappear relative to that of something far bigger, which is the organisation.”

To listen to this week’s episode of Beyond The Grid, simply hit go on the audio player above or click here to listen via your preferred podcasting platform.

You can also check out a huge selection of previous episodes – spanning every decade of F1 – in our dedicated Beyond The Grid library.

You can also watch the podcast on the F1 YouTube channel.