Vowles said he did not expect Williams to be able to challenge at the front this season.

They have retained the same drivers, with British-Thai Alex Albon partnered by Spaniard Carlos Sainz.

Albon finished eighth in the 2025 drivers’ championship, one place and nine points ahead of Sainz, who managed two third-placed finishes in Azerbaijan and Qatar.

“We want to establish 2025 as our new base and keep moving forward year on year across the board and across the business,” he said.

“There are some bits of the car that are absolutely championship level. And there’s other bits where we have a long way to go before we’re there, including just getting the car built and finished as a polished article. That doesn’t lead to podiums or wins.”

Vowles said he had been impressed by the amount of running completed by Ferrari and the Red Bull teams. Red Bull were running the first engine produced by their new in-house facility, and he said Mercedes “came out of the box strong”.

He also became the latest rival to shower praise on the design of the new Aston Martin, their first car under the leadership of design legend Adrian Newey.

“I wouldn’t want to be a designer in Aston Martin. That’s a very impressive set of wishbones on that car. Really, really intrinsic or interesting design.”

Mercedes driver George Russell made the same observation at their official launch on Monday.

“What Adrian has done with that car, it looks pretty spectacular,” Russell said.

“Aston Martin was probably the most standout in terms of the car design. I think everybody was looking at that rear suspension and it obviously visually looks very impressive. But it’s not a competition of how sexy it is. It’s a competition how fast it goes around the track.”