In late 2022, the Grove team tied down lead driver Alex Albon on a multi-year contract, but uncertainty surrounds the future of his stablemate Logan Sargeant for next season.
Ex-Mercedes head of strategy Vowles has publicly backed the American, who is yet to score a point during his rookie term but previously axed him from the Silver Arrows junior fold.
With Vowles targeting a five-year recovery plan for Williams to turn it into a competitive force, he said it is better to be honest with interested drivers rather than tempt a headline signing with false claims, only to lose them sooner than anticipated.
Vowles said: “Anything you do that lends them to realise that the numbers are fictitious will give you a short-term gain for a long-term massive deficit, including a loss of a driver.”
Williams has signed Alpine chief technical officer Pat Fry, with Vowles saying he singled the British engineer out in January but it then took three months to convince him to join.
Vowles added that it was his long-term vision for the team that has sold the deal, while Albon remains “very comfortable” with the timeline in view of Williams’ recent progress. The team sits seventh in the standings.
Source: Autosport