James Vowles does not expect Mercedes to have a similar advantage in 2026 to the one that left the Formula 1 field trailing in 2014. At the same time, he addresses the frequently asked question: to what extent was there sandbagging during the shakedown in Barcelona?
Ahead of the FW48 launch, Vowles was asked about the mixed signals from winter testing, in which Mercedes especially impressed with reliability and mileage. At the same time, other manufacturers may not have shown everything yet. In response to a question from GPblog about sandbagging and expectations for Bahrain, Vowles outlines how complex the current playing field is.
"If you wind all the way back to 2014, I think Mercedes were again impressive in that regard, but most others weren't. That's part of the advantage. I think that's gone now."- James Vowles
"It's a good question on sandbagging," the Williams team principal begins. "Without a reference to your own car, it becomes very difficult to know what everyone's doing in that regard. It's a little bit easier when Mercedes are racing, for example, because there's not a lot of sandbagging you can do anymore in that regard."
Vowles no longer sees a big advantage for Mercedes
Still, Vowles mainly sees a fundamental difference compared to previous major changes in the technical regulations. “If you wind all the way back to 2014 i think Mercedes were again impressive in that regard, but most others weren't. That's part of the advantage. I think that's gone now," he states.
According to the Williams team principal, the bar is set higher right from the start this time. “In terms of what my expectations are for Bahrain, first and foremost, we've seen the Mercedes power unit is reliable. Now, there'll still be demons locked inside it, that's what testing is for and that's why we have a further six days, so it's flushing those out but it's already a good baseline to work with. Same with the gearbox."
That solid start is no longer an exception, according to Vowles: "I think you'll see mileage accumulation that is at a very high level, not what you would normally expect at the beginning of a whole new power unit era."
As a result, the focus automatically shifts from survival to optimisation. "I think you'll see a lot of PU manufacturers actually out of the box able to do the mileage. So now it's more to one of the other questions that came, how do you optimise it? How do you use your electrical energy? How do you get the most out of the car?"
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