James Vowles singles out F1 rivals that impressed him in Barcelona shakedown
James Vowles has picked the teams that most impressed him in Barcelona.
Williams team principal James Vowles has detailed which teams he was impressed with during the shakedown in Barcelona.
While Williams did not take its car to Spain, the team had boots on the ground to do some reconnaissance on its rivals for the upcoming season.
James Vowles picks three most impressive F1 rivals in Barcelona shakedown
While focusing on its own run plan was the primary goal, every team at the Circuit de Catalunya will have kept one eye on what its rivals had conjured up over the winter break.
Even Williams had spies in the paddock, able to keep an eye on not only how the cars looked but also the number of laps each clocked in before reporting back to Vowles who remained in Grove.
During the team’s launch, Vowles was asked which teams impressed him during the shakedown and highlighted Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes for praise.
“First of all, I’ve been really impressed with Red Bull, especially on the power unit side,” he said. “To do a power unit from scratch and it turn out to be that reliable is mighty. Well done to them.
“Number two, Ferrari’s consistency, perhaps the outright pace is in question, but the consistency is really impressive for them. Again, from the get-go.
“Mercedes. I mean, I was there for a long time. They’re very good at getting regulation change right and walking out with a package that’s just robust and reliable. But if you’re doing a race sim, just about a day into testing, is very, very impressive.”
More from PlanetF1.com
* Adrian Newey: Aston Martin AMR26 will be ‘very different’ for Australian Grand Prix
* Christian Horner defends F1 2026 power unit strategies amid compression ratio debate
* Williams publishes FW48 car weight as rumoured F1 2026 fears eased
As well as three of the biggest teams in the sport, Vowles was also asked about Aston Martin with plenty of interest put into how Adrian Newey had interpreted the rules.
Vowles picked out the wishbones as an area where Newey had diverted from conventional thinking.
“It’s really impressive,” he said of the AMR26. “Adrian is just a creative designer, and it’s really impressive what he’s done with wishbones in places that I don’t think they should be, but he’s done them.
“[But] it’s hard for anyone to tell you where the ordering is, because also, I don’t think the cars you necessarily see today will be the cars you see in Melbourne, and that’s what makes it interesting in the beginning of season.
“So they’ve impressed me. Where they all sit? Hard to tell.”
Read next: The five drivers most at risk in F1 2026 ‘silly season’
