'It means the world to us' - JV hails home fans after disappointing Silverstone weekend
Speaking on The Vowles Verdict, presented by Kraken, our Team Principal shared his appreciation for our supporters
Published
10 JUL 2026
Est. reading time
3 min
James Vowles has praised the incredible support for Atlassian Williams F1 Team at the British GP despite a difficult weekend for the team.
Carlos Sainz finished P17 and Alex resorted to a test session after a lap 1 incident at Silverstone.
But our Team Principal, speaking on the latest episode of The Vowles Verdict, presented by Kraken, said the love from a record home crowd - and ongoing backing for the team - would drive everyone at Grove to 'come back swinging'
"Silverstone is always one of those crown jewels of the season, where you get to meet hundreds of thousands of fans," said James. "Ultimately, what we do – the reason why we go racing – is for all of you, and making sure we're part of one big family moving forward up the grid."
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This year's British Grand Prix drew the biggest attendance in the sport’s history, and James made a point of getting out amongst the crowds across the weekend.
"This year was by far the largest crowd that Silverstone's ever had, I think well towards 600,000 individuals. When you go on stage, or in my case, as a few of you may have seen, just cycling around and saying hello, it means the world to us. We appreciate and know that you've taken time out of your lives to come and share your passion for the sport, as we have a passion for the sport as well.
"You just want a moment of saying hello, a wave, a photo, whatever it may be - and I know that you've dedicated a huge amount to that. Some of you even got up incredibly early just for the opportunity to say hello for ten seconds.
"So I go back to: why do we do this? Of course, we're hyper-competitive and we want to win, but we do it for the fans, and your support at moments like this means everything to us."
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Responding to setbacks
Williams brought a new front wing to Silverstone and added some performance to the car, although James conceded it was a setback that the team hadn't made a bigger step forward.
"The reason why I joined, and the reason why we participate in elite sport, is because it tests you to the absolute limit," he explained. "I have felt more tested in Formula 1 across the years I've been a part of it than I have anywhere else, in any other walk of life.
"Elite sport is about absolutely pushing yourself to the limit, but it's also going to come with setbacks. That's just the nature of what we're performing in. We're developing a product that hasn't existed beforehand, and won't necessarily exist in the future in the same state.
“We're continuously pushing the boundaries of knowledge and, when you do that, sometimes you'll have great success, sometimes it will be average, and sometimes you'll have failures, and you may not even realise the significance of the failure until later.
"How you respond to that, how you diligently go through what was good, what was bad and what was wrong in all of that - and how quickly you do that - defines us as an organisation and defines us as a team."
For James, that response to adversity is woven into the fabric of the team, running through its near 50-year history.
"In fact, what I've just defined, I would say, is also Williams. We look across our history, and how we respond to setbacks has probably defined us as an organisation and as a team. And that's no different today."
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