Vowles reflects on Malaysia and looks ahead to Singapore
James Vowles reflects on the action in Malaysia, reveals how Mission Control supports the team and looks ahead to the Singapore Grand Prix
Published
09 OCT 2026
Est. reading time
3 min
The Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia was a race of missed opportunities for Atlassian Williams F1 Team, with James Vowles admitting that points could have been on the table in different circumstances.
Speaking on the latest episode of The Vowles Verdict, presented by Kraken, our Team Principal reflected on a chaotic race at the Sepang International Circuit, including the decision to fit intermediate tyres to both cars as the track dried.
“I’m proud of the decision the team took to fit inters to both cars,” James explained. “It was risky, but it paid off in spades, and we were able to pull out a pit stop gap to a number of the competitors that went differently.”
Carlos Sainz’s race then took a turn following contact with Gabriel Bortoleto, while Alex Albon lost valuable track position during a slow pit stop after being stacked in the pit lane.
Combined with the FW48’s dry-stint pace relative to the midfield, that ultimately left Williams outside the points.
“In a different world, with different circumstances and a different safety car, I think we had the potential to fight for points,” James said.
“But right now we need to make sure we find car pace, because we’re not where we need to be.”
Inside Mission Control
The entrance to Mission Control at Grove
Away from the action at Sepang, James also gave fans a glimpse behind the scenes at Grove, where a dedicated team works throughout every race weekend to support those trackside.
“During a race weekend we’ll have upwards of 40 people supporting us behind the scenes,” he explained.
While the team at the circuit is dealing with the action directly, Mission Control provides an environment where Williams’ engineers can monitor every aspect of the weekend and support the trackside operation.
“Everything we have here is almost a mirror image of the track,” James said. “In fact, I’d probably argue there might be even more information here: all of the car data, all of the radio channels and all of the video feeds we could possibly have.”
The purpose of Mission Control is to provide an isolated space where the team at Grove can analyse what is happening up to thousands of miles away, and help make decisions during a session or afterwards.
“It’s a calm environment and a good one, where you can think things through and support the trackside team, live or post-session.”
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Looking ahead to Singapore
Attention now turns to Singapore, with the Marina Bay Street Circuit next on the calendar and James hoping the characteristics of the track will suit the latest developments made to the FW48.
“Singapore is coming up shortly. It’s relentless,” he said. “We do a Fan Zone there, and it’s one of my favourites of the year. Thousands of people turn up to say hello, and it’s a great moment.
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“There’s a lot of celebration for Alex out in Singapore, and I’m looking forward to seeing that as well,” James added. “And of course there’s a lot of love for Carlos, it being the track where he won in spectacular fashion previously.”
On track, the focus is firmly on extracting more performance from the updates introduced two rounds ago.
“For us, it’s about getting on top of the upgrades we’ve made to the car,” James explained. “Malaysia didn’t really suit their characteristics, and I think Singapore will be better.”
After a weekend where circumstances ultimately prevented Williams from converting its opportunities into points, the objective is clear.
“But we need to get everything out of it to score points,” James concluded. “Our focus going in there is to execute a perfect weekend and hopefully come out with something to show for it.”
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