James Vowles very impressed with ‘really good’ driver who battled Williams yesterday

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Williams team principal James Vowles has admitted that he was very impressed with AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda during yesterday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Vowles was being interviewed live from the pit wall during the final race of the 2023 season.

There was plenty of attention on the battle for second place in the Constructors’ Championship yesterday.

It came right down to the wire but Mercedes managed to pip Ferrari to the runners-up spot despite Charles Leclerc’s best efforts.

However, the other important battle involved the bottom four teams in the standings.

Williams, AlphaTauri, Alfa Romeo and Haas were all hoping to pull off their best result of the season to earn some extra kudos and tens of millions in prize money.

However, not a single car retired from the race making it difficult for the back markers to make an impact on the top ten.

The only car Williams boss James Vowles had to worry about was AlphaTauri star Yuki Tsunoda.

The 23-year-old recorded his best qualifying result of his career to start sixth in Abu Dhabi and was leading the race at one point.

He was doing his best to make up the seven-point gap to their nearest rival but fell just short as he tried a daring one-stop strategy.

Williams team principal Vowles impressed with Tsunoda

Vowles was asked if he thought it was possible for the Japanese driver to finish sixth on his ageing hard tyres and he said: “We’ll wait until the chequered flag, I’m not going to relax.

“I think it’s a tall ask, he did a really, really good first stint. You saw he was in the lead of the race for a long time without really being challenged.”

AlphaTauri were still taking the battle for seventh very seriously going into this weekend by bringing a floor upgrade to the final race of the season.

There’s going to be a lot of change at the team with Franz Tost moving on and the team taking on a new name for 2024.

However, the performance of Vowles’s Williams team meant they ultimately got the better of Tsunoda and his various teammates across the season.

With AlphaTauri set to work more closely with Red Bull heading into next year, it will be interesting to see just how much they progress over the winter.

Vowles, meanwhile, still has a big decision to make over who partners Logan Sargeant next year.