James Vowles warns of extreme weather challenge for F1 season opener: “Few setup changes”

As Formula 1 returns to Melbourne for the 2025 Australian Grand Prix season opener, Williams team principal James Vowles confirmed that rain – and plenty of it – will play a big part in Sunday’s Grand Prix.

Talking to Sky Sports F1 after FP3, the former Mercedes strategist confirmed not only that he expects rain, but how the Grove team is preparing for what could be a very challenging first race of the season.

The street race currently boasts a worrying weather forecast. Vowles confirms this:

“I think it will rain. Now we’ve had three days in a row of the forecast being pretty clear that we’re going to have 150 millimeters of rain a few hours before the race. To put that in context, that’s welly-boots-and-stay-inside,” he joked. 

Currently, the chance of rain sits at 95% with possible thunderstorms during the Grand Prix – a stark contrast from the hot weather the track has experienced so far this week. But qualifying will be even warmer than it is now, with track temperature expected to be closer to 45 degrees. Vowles admits that they are already considering how to adapt their car to such conditions.

“First of all, there are some things that actually make it easier for us. We’ll get a change in climatic conditions tomorrow, which means we can make a few setup changes. That’s useful.

“It’s a little more constrained than it used to be, but it helps. You will slightly tweak it, and I think all teams will do that towards qualifying. For example, we ran hard today. The reason for that is to focus on having five softs in qualifying because it’s unlikely we’ll need two hards to win the race.”

There is an opportunity here for Williams. The team has shown surprisingly strong pace so far this race week, and with the expected rain, both Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz could capitalise on the conditions. As they say, rain is the great equaliser, reducing the advantage of superior machinery and placing great focus on driver experience and skill.

“A reasonable expectation for us is we want two cars in the top 10,” Vowles confirmed. 

If practice is anything to go by, Williams’ chances look good. Sainz finished sixth on the timesheet, followed by Albon, who was within a hundredth of his new teammate. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri leads with a fastest lap of 1:15.921.