Williams team principal James Vowles said securing fifth place in the championship is a “dream” result for the team which finished ninth last year.

The team clinched fifth in the championship thanks to Carlos Sainz Jnr’s second podium finish of the season yesterday. They can no longer be caught by Racing Bulls after Isack Hadjar lost sixth place with three laps to go when he suffered a puncture caused by a part failure on his car.

Williams haven’t finished higher than fifth in a season since they came third in 2015. Vowles, who took charge of the team in 2023, said he couldn’t have imagined the result 12 months ago.

“I couldn’t be prouder,” said Vowles. “P5 in the constructors’ championship. If anyone said that to us 12 months ago, it would have been at best a dream. And yet to our name today, that’s what we’ve achieved.”

Sainz, whom Vowles convinced to join the team after he was dropped by Ferrari last year, has delivered three top-three finishes for the team over the last seven rounds. In addition to yesterday’s podium finish he also took third in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and the sprint race at Austin. During that time he has risen from 18th in the drivers’ championship to ninth, one place behind team mate Alexander Albon.

“I’m extremely proud of everyone for this P5 finish,” said Sainz. “This podium today, I think it just shows all the progress that the team is doing behind the doors.

“But then all that work behind the doors, we are able to show it in days like today, executing a perfect race, perfect strategy, perfect pit stops. Everything went really, really well.”

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Albon has driven for the team since 2022 when they finished last in the constructors’ championship. He said he’s seen huge progress since then.

“At least for me, it’s been a longer road to get up to P5 and I feel like it’s been a huge step. Every year we’ve made progress.

“I’m so excited for the future of this team. I feel like we are getting closer. I think the gap, it’s fair to say from P10 to P5 is smaller than the gap from P5 to P1. But at the same time, I believe in this team and I believe we’re going to get there.”

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