James Takes Positives from ‘Tough’ Barcelona Weekend

Barcelona has never been the easiest of circuits for Atlassian Williams Racing – and the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix proved no different. But for Team Principal James Vowles, a challenging weekend is often where the most meaningful progress begins.

“There’s plenty of positives to take away from Barcelona,” Vowles shared on the latest episode of The Vowles Verdict, presented by Kraken. “I enjoy events that remind us that we have to keep digging deep and scrapping – that we haven’t fixed everything we need to on our journey back towards the front. And Barcelona does exactly that.”

While the team didn’t walk away with points, the step forward from 2024 was clear, particularly when it came to Qualifying pace.

“We were really dead last last year, and that wasn’t the case this year,” he said. “Alex was within a few milliseconds of getting into Q3, and I think arguably the traffic really cost him the gap required to get in. To be there with the car in that circumstance is a big step forward from where we have been.”

Despite the difficulty of the weekend, JV saw clear signs of progress – and plenty of opportunities to learn.

“A tough and difficult weekend, but as always, with these weekends, there’s plenty to dig into, to learn, and make sure we move forward and improve,” he explained. “We knew Barcelona was going to be difficult – that’s just historically been the case for our team. But I’m hopeful that much of the changes we’ve made across the last few years have improved the car here as much as they have at other tracks.”

Key to that improvement, says Vowles, is the mindset that now defines the team, a culture that embraces failure as part of growth – without finger-pointing.

“I have made mistakes this year. We as a team have made mistakes this year. Alex and Carlos have made mistakes this year,” he said candidly. “You asked the virtue that I enjoy the most about them – in all of these circumstances, these failures, as I treat them – all of us have done the same thing.”

“There’s no blame. There’s no politics. There’s no apportionment of ‘you did this’, ‘I did that’. It’s a reflection on ourselves: this is one I can do better. And this is what’s changing for next week. Alex and Carlos absolutely embody that spirit. It’s very much there. And it’s now really taking roots within the team – the way we want to go racing.”

To hear more from our Team Principal and his Spanish GP reflections, catch the latest episode of The Vowles Verdict.