F1 top teams warned: Williams' F1 2026 season uncompromised by standout 2025

18:45, 11 Dec

Updated: 19:25, 11 Dec

byNorberto Mujica

Williams capped off a F1 season to remember in 2025, with three Grand Prix podiums on merit and team boss James Vowles assures stand-out year came at no expense of their 2026 campaign.

“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."

- James Vowles.

Williams lept from P9 in the 2024 F1 Constructors' Standings to P5 in 2025. Photo: Race Pictures

Williams has made it a mission to return to the front-edge of the F1 grid and their 2025 under-developed season has helped the team take up the benchmark P5 position behind the top teams as "best of the rest" 45 points clear of its midfield rivals.

A significant leap forward from the 17 points scored and their ninth place finish in the 2024 Constructors' standings. “It exceeds our expectations,” said Vowles in a video released by the Grove-based outfit regarding their uptick. “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.”

How Williams took tangible steps forward

Vowles then pointed to the team's technical expertise to take the lap time gains visible in the simulator and carrying that onto the track. “It was the first time that we really saw this ’47 competing against our rivals, and we were flying,” he added. “So, first of all, it meant we’ve translated performance that’s theoretical in the winter through testing into real, tangible performance on track."

Carlos Sainz with his Williams crew in Qatar. Photo: RacePictures

The British team boss was also pleasently surprised by Sainz' race savvy which proved crucial for the team to be able to come together, noting that the Spanish driver's partnership with teammate Alexander Albon is the highlight of the F1 2025 campaign.

“[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," the Williams team principal continued. "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,” Vowles concluded.

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