The biggest surprise for Williams is that driver error, rather than their own miserable winter, has shone the strongest light on their deficiencies.
With the very best of intentions their team principal, James Vowles, had pushed Williams to breaking point in the off-season. Finally they broke, spectacularly and publicly, as Alex Albon crashed during the Australian Grand Prix, kicking off an unsightly and embarrassing turn of events that led to Logan Sargeant having to give up his car for the rest of that race weekend.
Vowles, 44, is the youngest team principal on the grid, and one of the most highly rated, having joined from Mercedes, where he was the motorsport strategy director. Toto Wolff, his former boss, considers him one of the most intelligent
