Williams’s rise to fifth place in the championship this year hasn’t come at the expense of their preparations for Formula 1’s new regulations, says team principal James Vowles.
In his third year running the team, Vowles guided them to their highest championship finish since 2017. They improved their points haul from 17 points in 2024 to 137 this season, with Carlos Sainz Jnr finishing third in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Qatar Grand Prix and Austin sprint race.
Vowles pointed out they achieved their improvement despite doing minimal development on their FW47 chassis this year as they prioritised work on their first chassis for the new regulations Formula 1 will introduce in 2026.
“It exceeds our expectations,” said Vowles in a video released by the team. “We wanted to make a step forward from where we were.
“We wanted to make sure that we demonstrated to the world we’re a different team to where we have been and that we’ll make strides forward, but never losing focus on our future, i.e. 2026 and beyond.
“This year, to still hold on to that fifth place, and more than that have three podiums to our name and huge points score, that exceeds our expectations.”
While Alexander Albon claimed the majority of the team’s points over the first two-thirds of the season, Sainz enjoyed a strong end to the year, rising nine places in the drivers’ standings to finish ninth overall, immediately behind his team mate. Vowles said seeing how well the team’s new driver partnership gelled from the first race, despite Sainz’s first-lap retirement, was the highlight of his season.
“It was the first time that we really saw this ’47 competing against our rivals, and we were flying,” he explained. “So, first of all, it meant we’ve translated performance that’s theoretical in the winter through testing into real, tangible performance on track.
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“[Also], whilst Carlos wasn’t in the car, that teamwork immediately came to light when he joined us on the pit wall and helped us make decisions in very tricky weather conditions on what we should be doing. So it’s a team that was already solidified and bonding together under duress, which was really the story for the remainder of the year.
“So for me, it’s how the team came together in those exceptional circumstances, how two drivers started working together that will stay with me.”
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