Embodiments of the present invention provide a vehicle control system for at least one vehicle subsystem of a vehicle, the system being operable to activate a vehicle launch assist (VLA) function to prevent excessive wheel slip, when the launch assist function is active the system being configured to impose a set of one or more prescribed constraints on an amount of torque applied to one or more wheels of a vehicle, wherein the set of one or more constraints ere determined by reference to information or data in respect of an amount of wheel torque that may be applied before the amount of wheel slip exceeds a prescribed value.