The pressure on James Vowles could be mounting at Williams, according to former Haas Formula 1 team principal Guenther Steiner, who has offered a blunt assessment of the Grove outfit's current performance.
Following a challenging Hungarian Grand Prix where Williams continued to struggle for pace, Steiner did not mince his words regarding Vowles's tenure, suggesting that the team is "going backwards".
"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, which he got at the beginning of the year," Steiner joked during an appearance on The Red Flags Podcast.
"He knows what to do. He just didn’t have time to read them. So, let him read his emails. 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."
When pressed on a timeline for Vowles to turn things around, Steiner added: "If it is continuing the way that it currently is, five or six races into [next year], there’ll be changes. You’ve had enough time to read your emails and improve things. And if you haven’t, then you’re out."
Heading into the summer break, Williams sits ninth in the constructors' championship with 11 points. Aston Martin, which brought extensive upgrades to the Hungarian Grand Prix, is 10th with one point. Despite the current gap, Steiner argued that the Silverstone outfit would likely finish ahead of Williams at the end of the year.
"I think they’ve got a big chance to pick up two points here, two points there to get to 11 [points] because I don’t think that Williams is going to pick up any more points," Steiner explained.
Vowles joined Williams as team principal in 2023 and has had a big job on his hands to turn the outfit around. Williams finished seventh in the standings in Vowles's first season and fifth by the end of his third. But Williams has struggled with the new wave of regulations introduced in 2026.
"They promised us at the beginning of the season, 'We will be back; we know exactly what to do,'" Steiner argued. "Guess what? They're going backwards instead of forwards at the moment."
