James Vowles is on a mission to return Williams to winning ways – just don’t ask about the short-term

There’s a feel-good factor around Williams Racing at the moment, and it’s not really part of the plan.

When James Vowles, formerly Mercedes-AMG’s motorsport strategy director, was appointed Team Principal at the start of the year, he made the usual noises about changing the culture, resetting the organisation and improving the results.

Anyone listening could have been forgiven for hearing this as lip-service. It is, after all, the thing a new team principal – or manager/coach/chief exec in any other elite sport – is supposed to say on installation. It took a while longer for the penny to drop that he actually meant it.