Medland: Williams shows flashes of victorious F1 past with surprise pace

Alex Albon qualified the FW45 in eighth place – making it the fifth-fastest car around the Albert Park circuit – and was clearly not in need of the extreme strategy gamble of 12 months earlier to pull off a point-scoring result. In fact, making use of a track that did suit the car once again, Albon was running sixth before his early crash that ended hopes of a dream result.

But perhaps it’s not a dream result anymore. Perhaps it’s a situation where Williams can legitimately target some notable points hauls at times during this season when the circuit plays to the car’s strengths, because those strengths appear to be even stronger this year than last and the lead driver behind the wheel is even more comfortable in his surroundings now.

“I think with Alex, probably the most exceptional you saw him, look at Bahrain for example – fifty-odd laps of the race he held a car behind him that was quicker. No mistakes, no errors, just kept it going. And that’s really a sign of a driver that’s completely in control of what they’re doing and very, very comfortable in the environment they’re driving in. And the car wasn’t particularly behaving as well as I would have liked in that situation, very easy to make a small mistake, but he didn’t.

“Come forward a few races, you can really see him fighting for those points tenaciously. He is a leader, but a leader in the way that he knows what is required for us to move forward and he has no issues about speaking his mind and making sure we move forward in that direction.”

While Vowles can’t be credited with the form of Williams right now – having only been in the job for a matter of weeks – he is well-placed to pick up on some of the team’s strengths that have helped it get to where it is at this point.

It’s a team that I must admit I expected to be struggling based on the fact it also removed its technical director at the same time as its last team principal, so to be so competitive is a surprise.

And one of the reasons? Not resistance at all, but the ability to react and learn from experience.

“I found a group of individuals just raring and ready to go, but they’d also built a car in a way that I’m incredibly impressed with, because it’s not using the same modern systems that I have the luxury of using — even software that tells you where all the components are and what they look like and how long they take to build. It was done with people that are just incredibly passionate and work every minute possible to build a racing car.

“The package that we had in testing was already a good foundation and baseline, but it really was the ninth or tenth fastest car there. We made some good steps between Bahrain test and Bahrain race, and again between Bahrain and Saudi, and again between Saudi and Australia.

“What I’ve enjoyed so far is every time the team is very proactively moving forward, very reactive to change, to information and to knowledge. And as a result the team absolutely is in a position now where we are fighting for points near-enough on merit, and that’s been the case at all three races.

“But to get there everything has to be absolutely perfect. That’s really hard to put into context but one small issue – no matter how big it is – will cost you those points.”

Melbourne did prove costly in the end, with both cars crashing out and the team slipping to the foot of the constructors’ championship once again. But that’s not something that Vowles is going to dwell over, because the firm focus from his side is far into the future, and it’s a focus he says he has been allowed to fully commit to by owners Dorilton Capital.

“It was good discussions that I was having with the board here. What was really important to me is not where we are today but where we everyone sees us being in three years, five years, ten years for now.

“Ten years sounds a long way away – it’s probably the furthest that anyone can start considering – but to do this I want to make sure that we’re taking the right directions that are important for me and right for the team as well going forward, and that includes the right amount of investment but also the right vision.

“It’s fair to say within the discussions we had it was uncanny how much their side and myself had exactly the same vision on where we are going. Nothing’s about today, nothing’s about tomorrow even: let’s invest and do this properly so that in three, five and ten years’ time we’re a force to be reckoned with, one that teams up and down the pitlane realise that Williams is a significant and real competitor to them.”

Based on the performance shown so far in the opening three races, there’s a decent chunk of the grid that will already be feeling that way.