Steiner puts Vowles under pressure at Williams

Guenther Steiner has said James Vowles should be under serious pressure at Williams, warning that the team principal could face changes five or six races into next season if the team’s 2026 slide continues.

Speaking on The Red Flags Podcast, the former Haas Formula 1 team principal delivered a blunt verdict on Williams’ regression under the new rules. “As much as I think he’s not doing a good job, I think you need to at least give him time to read all his emails,” Steiner said, before adding: “Find a solution by the end of the year. If he hasn’t got to all the emails by the end of the year, then let him go.”

The criticism lands after a miserable season for Williams. The team missed the first week of testing before starting the new regulation cycle with a car that was both overweight and badly off the pace. Although Williams has reduced that weight, the underlying performance has improved little, and it heads into the summer break ninth in the constructors’ championship with just 11 points.

That has made the drop from 2025 especially stark. Steiner pointed to what he described as a hugely successful campaign last year, when Carlos Sainz scored two podiums and helped Williams secure fifth in the constructors’ standings before Formula 1’s 2026 regulation overhaul.

For Steiner, the problem is not just the poor results but the direction of travel. He said Williams had effectively projected confidence before the season, only for that optimism to unravel once racing began. “They promised us at the beginning of the season, ‘We will be back; we know exactly what to do,’” he said. “Guess what? They’re going backwards instead of forwards at the moment. All the progress is in the wrong direction.”

Steiner also set a rough deadline for Vowles to reverse the trend. Asked how long he would give him, he said the start of next season would be decisive if the current form carries over. “If it is continuing the way that it currently is, five or six races into [next year], there’ll be changes,” Steiner said. “You’ve had enough time to read your emails and improve things. And if you haven’t, then you’re out.”

The scale of Williams’ regression has now turned Vowles’ position into a live talking point and cast a shadow over a team that expected to build on a fifth-place finish, not begin the new rules era on the back foot.