Danica Patrick tells James Vowles to look away as he’s shown brutal Williams footage at Las Vegas Grand Prix

Williams have slipped to ninth in the constructors’ championship ahead of this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix. Alpine surged up the table after an extraordinary double podium in Sao Paulo.

The Enstone outfit had only scored 14 points all season but they bagged 35 at Interlagos alone. Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly both mastered the wet conditions, while the team also nailed their strategy calls to take full advantage of a unique opportunity.

While Alpine also leapfrogged Haas and RB, Williams were the biggest losers. Staring at a 27-point chasm to the three teams ahead, they’re set to finish second from bottom.

They would previously have been optimistic of P8, but the monumental Brazil swing will hit their prize money. They’d need another chaotic race to have any hope to gaining a spot.

Perhaps an even bigger issue was the series of accidents. Alex Albon showed the pace to contend for big points in qualifying but wasn’t even able to take part in the race after a heavy crash in Q3.

And teammate Franco Colapinto predictably struggled in his first wet weekend. He hit the wall in both qualifying and the race, leading to a seven-figure repair bill for Williams.

Danica Patrick urges James Vowles to look away from Williams crash replays at Las Vegas Grand Prix

Team principal James Vowles spoke to Sky Sports F1 after the second practice session at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. He was shown replays of all the team’s crashes in Sao Paulo.

Vowles sarcastically thanked the British broadcasters for forcing him to relive the weekend. The former Mercedes strategist took over at the start of 2023 and this was perhaps his biggest setback yet.

Pundit Danica Patrick told him not to ‘look’ lest it bring back those emotions. But on a more serious note, Vowles expressed his pride at the team’s rebuilding job back at the base.

“Thank you for playing it back to me!” Vowles said. “I feel done now. Oh good, you’ve got all of them.”

Patrick joked: “Don’t look!”

Vowles added: “What I’m so proud of is Williams pulled together. Proper kicks in the stomach – you can see every single one of them here. And the team in Grove – the race team – just pulled together to build two cars at the right spec.”

Williams employee Jenson Button reacts to mighty rebuild after Sao Paulo crashes

Before the race, there was talk Williams might have to limit their running in Las Vegas. This was due to a lack of spare parts at the beginning of the triple-header.

But while Albon stopped on track in FP2 with a mechanical issue, there were no planned changes to the Williams programme. This is a testament to what they’ve accomplished at the factory.

Team advisor and 2009 world champion Jenson Button loved Williams’ ‘determination’. It comes in the final leg of F1’s longest-ever season.

The team didn’t score at this event last year. Albon was 12th, nearly 15 seconds off the points, while Logan Sargeant was 15th.