Williams’s Team Principal James Vowles largely discussed what’s to come for the Grove-based team, setting big goals for 2026 and beyond, and praising their future driver line-up hoping to star near the front in Formula 1 when the new regulations kick in.
In fact, Vowles went as far as to say that Williams will have the most talented duo out of all ten teams in the championship in the upcoming 2025 season, when former McLaren and Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz will join, while also acknowledging the effort put in by rookie Franco Colapinto and the great performances he has brought in only three races so far.
“In ’25, I think we will have the best driver lineup on the grid. I mean, Franco’s doing a brilliant job. What he doesn’t have is the experience that Carlos will come with, but he’s doing an outstanding job,” he said on the Beyond the Grid.
“I think from the perspective of not just driving the car, but leading the team forward, we’ll have the best line-up on the grid. That will help motivate and push us forward. There’s good developments ongoing, just as a continuation of ’24 to ’25.”
Pushed on his statement that they will have the best line-up with Ferrari and McLaren’s 2025 line-ups, Vowles says Sainz’s performances against Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen in the same cars proves why they do.
Along with Albon’s work away from the track, Vowles also praised Sainz for his energy behind the scenes as well, adding that’s a key feature as to why he believes they have the top driver partnership on the grid in 2025.
“That’s my opinion of it. And I’ll explain some of the reasons behind it to a certain extent.
“A, they’re both performing at a very high level. I mean, Carlos has driven against all of the drivers we’ve just discussed.
“Against Lando, he was successful.
“Against Charles, up and down. But he’s there or thereabouts. There’s hardly anything between those two drivers.
“Against Max, in that first year in Toro Rosso, [he] was exceptional against him.
“So it’s not that he hasn’t been challenged throughout his career. He’s been challenged all the way through and held his own.
“But it’s not just that that I’m basing it on. It’s not in the car, it’s out the car.
“In the short space of time that I’ve got to know him properly, he drives the team forward. He wants to spend every minute of his time that he can do to make this team more and more successful.
“And that’s a combination that is not necessarily available up and down the grid.
“What I mean by that is not just getting the car. That’s not my job. My job is I want this to be a successful organisation. Tell me what more we can do.
“And that’s what I’m looking forward to. And Alex is built the same way.”
The former Mercedes strategist has great plans in store for the team he is leading, but this will call for “sacrifices” at first, considering the budget cap and the fact there is only one more season to come of the current regulations.
“There’s a but to it. You already know my opinion. Everything is about ’26. So ’25 will be sacrificed. And what that looks like just depends on how keen others are to take the risks I’m taking.”
For three years Alex Albon has been the clear leader of the team, comfortably outperforming Nicholas Latifi and Logan Sargeant.
However, young rookie Franco Colapinto has come in and given him a very hard time at Baku and Singapore, with the pair very, very close on pace.
He will have to face a completely different situation with Carlos Sainz in 2025, but Vowles is confident that the former Red Bull driver will be ready to adapt to it and keep performing on the level he has been for the past seasons, and can improve if Sainz gets an early edge on him.
“Yes, but he’ll step up to the challenge every time. That’s why I’ve signed him for the long term. He’s brilliant at this. So, is he feeling the pressure now? He’s frustrated because for all of us, he wanted a result and we had a result there,” he said commenting on the incident at the start of the Sinagapore GP where Albon had let out his frustration on the radio after feeling he was pushed off track by his teammate at the start.
“That’s where it stemmed from, more than anything else. But what you will see is an Alex that keeps stepping forward. Because when you have a team that goes, ‘oh, he found half a tenth there, I’ll do the same’. You start getting pushed in a way that you haven’t before. But his response will only be positive. So that’s Alex.”
The main focus of conversation was Carlos Sainz’s addition to Williams, and what he can bring to the table in terms of both performance and experience, with Vowles stressing the importance of the latter.
Asked if in hindsight he regrets having signed the 3-time race winning Spaniard having seen Colapinto’s potential in an F1 car, the Brit brushed that off.
“It’s really not a question I can answer directly, but I’ll explain why. Carlos comes with him, not just the ability to drive a car quickly, but the ability to lead the team forward. Where we are as Williams today is I need leaders in and around me that are able to understand what excellence looks like from, in this case, Ferrari or McLaren, which are his last two experiences, and bring them here so that we push ourselves forward because at the rate we’re going, we’re doing okay, but we need proper leaps and bounds.”
On the other hand, the driving performance put in by the young Argentinian driver is undeniably good and impressive, proving the fact that he is worthy of a full time seat.
“What Franco brings to him is just this pure performance. No doubt about it, he can drive the socks off, if that’s an expression, this car. But there’s pros and cons to both, which is what we have to be clear about. What I would say is Franco is deserving of a place in Formula 1, so it’s hard to know where that would have led to.”
Vowles also detailed that they have discussed certain things regarding the future, although it’s limited until December when Sainz’s time at Ferrari ends.
“We can’t for obvious reasons, which is he’s still a Ferrari driver. But what we are talking more about is what he’s done historically elsewhere, what he wants to be doing here.
He added that the relationship between the pair is even stronger since he signed, and the 30-year-old is determined to drive Williams on, both on the track and off it.
“He grew stronger more than anything else. What I mean by that is he loves where he is.
“He’s in Ferrari. And it’s an exceptional place to be as a driver.
“But he knows his future is here. And as a result of that, what he’s trying to do is say, what can we do here? This is what I’d like for us to move forward together. This is what I’ve done in the past. This is where I can go.
“And so already when a driver’s doing that, you can tell that their mindset is position themselves into the right place for the next several years,” he concluded, highlighting the positive impact Sainz is going to have.
Settling back into the midfield won’t be an issue for him, according to the Brit, who admitted it was a topic covered by the two of them as Sainz delayed his decision.
“No, not for a second I had that worry. Over one of our dinners, we had this chat. And he was actually very good in how he answered it.
“And he said, ‘no, the way it works is this. The second I sign, I give you 100% of everything. But what I’m doing is making sure that I am ready to give 100% of everything to this organisation. That’s the delay’.
“So answering your question more directly, he will give everything to this team for it to be successful. And Ferrari is a part of his history that’s led to here. Part of his history.”
Asked if he was surprised to hear his future driver state that he wouldn’t mind to race again for his actual Italian team, Vowles denied, closing off the interview with a strong remark as it shows his ambitious goals to bring Williams back to glory: “No. I’d say the same thing.
“But when we’re beating Ferrari, I think he’d prefer to be here.”
