James Vowles makes alarming admission about Williams' latest F1 upgrade

Williams team principal James Vowles has conceded that the team's British Grand Prix upgrades had "nowhere near" the effect that was required. 

Williams has fallen steadily down the pecking order this term. After being the only team to miss the pre-season running in Barcelona, Williams was so delayed with its progress that it took until Miami - the fourth round of the season - to introduce its 'round one' package.

Plagued by weight problems, Q1 exits have become ever-more frequent, with the team now scoreless across the last three grands prix, and only positioning both cars in the points at the same event once.

In a bid to halt the slide, Williams fast-tracked a front wing upgrade by a fortnight, to bring it to Silverstone instead of Spa-Francorchamps, but Vowles admitted this was not at the level needed. 

"In Silverstone, we worked diligently, day and night to bring performance to the car," he explained on 'The Vowles Verdict'. 

"I think in part it helped, but nowhere near to the level we needed or perhaps even should have done. For me, right now, that creates nothing more than the will and desire to get stuck into it because I suspect there's a lot more performance we can unlock as a result of it.

"But right now, the work that's going on is across these next seven to 14 days, digging into what we understand and know and making changes as required for the forthcoming grand prix."

Vowles has often been credited with talking a good game and being able to put a positive slant on negative news, something that has become ever-more needed given that only Aston Martin's struggles have saved Williams' blushes in what was hoped to be a new era of success.

Williams is currently in eighth position, on 11 points - a total that is 47 fewer than at the same time last term. 

Adding to the uncertainty of Williams' situation, Vowles added: "We take stock of everything that we know that is data-driven and factual, but conversely create buckets of unknowns, of which there were a number and a little bit more coming out of Silverstone than we had previously."