The numerous crashes endured by Williams in the 2024 Formula 1 season brought about “a small amount of pain” but will have no “systemic effect” on the outfit going forward, team boss James Vowles has said.
The Grove-based squad suffered a spate of accidents throughout the latest campaign involving all three of its drivers – Alex Albon, Logan Sargeant and the American’s late-season replacement Franco Colapinto.
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Williams decided to withdraw Sargeant from the Australian Grand Prix, handing his car to Albon after the latter terminally damaged his own in an FP1 off. Shunts became a regular occurrence over the season, to the extent that Colapinto had to complete the year with older-specification parts after the Argentine crashed out of the Las Vegas qualifying session.
In the current budget cap era, the accidents cost the team millions of euro and forced it to spend more resources on producing 2024 parts. However, as Williams launched its new FW47 challenger for 2025, Vowles claimed the pain from those incidents was “not noticeable so far”.
“There will be a small amount of pain, but that is just the facts behind it – you cannot have over 20 crashes in 24 races, you cannot have that without some sort of damage felt,” the Briton admitted. “The best way I can summarise it is I don’t think we’ll have a systemic effect on how we’re adjusting to it.”
James Vowles, Team Principal, Williams Racing
Photo by: Getty Images
Albon concurred: “Honestly, I wouldn’t say last year’s [crashes] played an impact in the development of this year’s car.”
Having come ninth last season, Williams is openly treating 2025 as a transitional year anyway, aiming at making the most of F1’s new technical regulations from 2026 onwards.
“We’re still focused very much on ‘26,” Albon said. “We changed the car a lot from ’23 to ’24, and I think you saw the changes – it took a toll.
“Not just in terms of being late for car building and testing last year, but also the balance of the car changed quite drastically.
“A lot of things improved; we figured there were some weaknesses that we had. This year, now that we understand the changes we made between ’23 and ’24, how do we apply that to this year, and is the direction that we’re now going in finally the right direction for ’26?”
Alex Albon, Williams FW47
Photo by: Williams
As far as short-term goals are concerned, there is optimism in the Williams camp that the new FW47 represents a decent step forward, but Albon is wary that it may not necessarily translate into a move up the pecking order in 2025.
“What I’ve realised year to year, especially with the regulation changes, is that each team, especially the midfield teams, they’re improving so much,” the Thai-Briton said. “You think you’ve done a really good step – and you have – but all the midfield teams have done it as well, if not even more.
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“The one thing that you can tell from Bahrain testing is just immediately, I think within the first 15-20 laps of driving, the car’s feeling going in the right direction or not.”
Pre-season testing will get under way at Sakhir on 26 February with the only three days of official running before the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, which will deliver a first verdict on whether Williams has made some hoped-for progress.
Additional reporting by Alex Kalinauckas and Mark Mann-Bryans
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Formula 1
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“I don’t want to keep saying that we’re sacrificing this year for next year. But this year is definitely a time to do that.”
This line pretty much sums up Alex Albon’s thinking on Williams’ upcoming campaign, highlighting the team’s laser focus on catching the right wave in 2026 when F1 introduces all-new cars.
But that doesn’t mean Williams is just throwing in the towel this year. Performance in F1 is not a light switch you can flick on but the result of a long process of installing the right people to build a winning culture and the right tools to execute that vision. The team that is supposed to reap the rewards in the future from a large-scale rebuild is largely the same team that runs the Grove factory today, with team boss James Vowles revealing the team’s staff has swelled to over a thousand people already.
A lot of the pieces those people are helping Williams build should already be coming together this year, whether it’s better ideas, tools or methodologies. Some of those are already in place, as evidenced by the contrast between Williams’ launch last week and its dire situation 12 months ago, when its 2024 car came together late and severely overweight.
“The car will be on the weight limit and on time,” Vowles said. “We demonstrated to the world that we can build a car to the correct standard and make it leave the garage within one minute. So that’s two very different changes from where we are last year. The quality of the fit, the quality of the build, the quality of the product is a huge step upwards. The packaging is another step upwards. And we haven’t even got into aerodynamics and suspension and performance yet.
“Every area I look at on the car is just a world of difference for me from where we were before. We’re not finished on our journey, and I’m not here standing on our soapbox saying that we’re a benchmark, but we’re on the right pathway to getting back there.”
Carlos Sainz, Williams FW47
Photo by: Williams
Despite all those tangible gains, Williams won’t be sure if it has outdeveloped its direct rivals until the end of the Bahrain test, and arguably even until Melbourne qualifying. Albon would like to aim for the “top half of the midfield”, but says his evaluation of whether Williams is on the right track is still more based on the momentum of change he can see behind the scenes than the timesheets.
“I would like to see us making a step from last year for sure, just in terms of quantifying that it’s a little bit difficult to say,” he added. “I’d like to be fighting up at the top half of that midfield fight. We’ll see how big of a midfield fight there is this year. I think it’s going to be closer even to the top teams.
“But it’s not so much result-based as you would expect. I think that last year, if you just look at where we were in terms of timing and being late and being overweight, these kinds of areas were fundamental to be fixed for this year and we’ve already started in a much better position. There are loads of other examples, but they’re the kind of things that I want to see improved for this year, because I think it’s what’s going to create the foundation for a better 2026.”
Some of the changes Albon is hinting at are related to the hiring spree Williams has embarked on, but also to the infrastructure projects the squad has commissioned. The days of keeping track of car parts via a Microsoft Excel sheet are now also a blush-inducing relic of the past. This is all part of the process that Vowles embarked on when he was hired by team owner Dorilton Capital in January 2023, the last phase of which won’t be completed until 2027 at the very earliest.
“Everyone is aligned that we want to be winning world championships. What I can demonstrate is very clear progress that’s taking place in infrastructure, culture, technology that’s kicking in, we’re moving into a new building,” he explained. “This year we’re bringing in what I think will be a benchmark driver-in-the-loop simulator. We’re bringing in tools and technologies coming this year. That was started in 2023, so if you put your focus on the following year, you’ll miss out about long-term evolution.
“There are bits we’re doing today that won’t come online until 2027. That’s unfortunate, but that’s part of a longer journey. The fact that we’ve gone from 700 people to over 1,000 individuals means that you’ll have some low-hanging fruit, just producing a better car – having more performance being added to it. But I consider that secondary to the long-term investment to get us where we need to be.”
Carlos Sainz, Williams, James Vowles, Team Principal, Williams Racing, Alex Albon, Williams
Photo by: Getty Images
Vowles rejects any comparisons with Sauber, where many felt an overwhelming focus on 2026 hurt the current team’s performance last year and, with it, dented its morale.
“I ask you a question back. Do you think that happened in one year, or do you think that was multiple years? That’s the point, it took multiple years for that to happen, so it takes multiple years to build back,” he said.
Vowles says the team, which first put the 2025 car in the wind tunnel back in March last year, already has a firm end date for the in-season development of its car in mind, although he stopped short of disclosing when Williams would fully shift to the 2026 project.
“Not at the moment,” he said. “Mainly because I want to see how we get out the gate, but the bias is very much towards 2026. 2 January was the first legal date our 2026 car was in the wind tunnel and it hasn’t exited since then. We front-loaded the development on the 2025 as much as possible to then front-load the 2026 car.
“The only thing that’s going to make a difference is obviously when we turn a wheel in Australia. But even then, I don’t think our pathway will change where we are.”
Nevertheless, with a second experienced driver alongside Albon in Sainz – a proven race winner too – Williams has vastly upgraded its driver line-up, as well as any other changes that will already have an impact this year.
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With its well-documented weight issues Williams took a long time to get off the mark last year and could only manage ninth in the standings. Regardless of its 2026 focus – which will be shared by a lot of its rivals – 2025 should present a step up by all metrics if it aims to keep up the momentum created by the buzz around its launch.
In this article
Filip Cleeren
Formula 1
Carlos Sainz
Alex Albon
Williams
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Williams has revealed the livery for its new Formula 1 car.
The Grove-based team uncovered its new car at Silverstone last week in a one-off livery. They presented their race colour scheme at Formula 1’s pre-season launch today.
The car will be raced by Alexander Albon, now in his fourth year with the team, and Carlos Sainz Jnr, who has joined from Ferrari.
The new livery incorporates the logos and pale blue colour scheme of Williams’ new title sponsor Atlassian alongside the team’s traditional dark blue colouring. The team said its new livery also features “subtle white and blue detailing [which] pays homage to past liveries, ensuring a sense of continuity while introducing an evolved aesthetic.”
Another newcomer to the team which appears on the FW47 is Spanish bank Santander, whose logos previously appeared on Ferrari’s cars.
“Tonight was a truly special moment for Atlassian Williams Racing as we revealed the FW47 livery to the world at F1 75 Live,” said James Vowles, who is beginning his third year as team principal. “This car represents the dedication and hard work of every individual at HQ working tirelessly to get this team back where it deserves to be.”
Vowles also paid tribute to the team’s supporters. “Seeing the incredible support from our fans here, and around the world, reminds us why we do this — we’re on this journey together.”
Williams suffered a disappointing 2024 season as they fell two places to ninth in the constructors’ championship. However Sainz is encouraged by what he’s seen at the team since joining them at the end of last year. “We know we’re on a journey but every day we are making steps to help bring Williams back to where it belongs,” he said.
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Pictures: 2025 Williams F1 livery
Williams FW47 in race livery, 2025Williams FW47 in race livery, 2025
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Formula 1 is about to host its first-ever season livery launch party in London. Technically the event is called “F1 75 Live at The O2” — landing, as it is, at the outset of the 75th season in the sport’s history. At the centerpiece of the event, all 10 F1 teams will take their turn unveiling their car (or their car’s main livery, at least) for the 2025 season — on a stage, in a massive arena, as well as in front of a global audience of millions.
Given this is the first-ever event of it kind, the only concrete details we have are the ones we’ve been given by F1 itself.
Here’s everything you need to know about the F1 75 Live event at The O2 Arena in London:
When is the F1 75 Live event?
Everything kicks off at 5:30pm GMT, and the event is scheduled to last for five hours.
How can I watch it?
Unless you were one of the lucky few to grab arena tickets in the literal minutes before they sold out, you can watch along on F1’s YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook pages.
What is the plan for the F1 75 Live event?
Traditionally, each team pulls the covers off its new cars in their own ways: a racetrack with a few media in attendance, or in more recent (and boring) ways, as an email or social media post with a few images of the new car’s paintwork and some canned driver quotes.
This time, Formula 1 has stepped in to bring all the teams together on one night in London in front of a live audience with musical acts, streaming the show for free. Though the event is fronting F1’s 75th anniversary, think of F1 75 Live more as an opening ceremony than a birthday party.
More importantly, it’s F1’s chance to build up — and, possibly, better control — the biggest moment before cars hit the track for pre-season testing. By turning the normally workaday livery launches into a spectacle, there’s a chance to invent something of a 25th audience-friendly event in a schedule already stuffed with races. And, given the musical performances (more on those in a moment), there’s a chance to do something that’s a little more loose, and globally pop cultural, than the usual nose-down focus of a race weekend.
How will the event go?
All 20 drivers will be there, plus the team bosses — as well as, of course, the new 2025 F1 cars.
Each team will have a seven minute segment on the O2 stage to do what they wish, meaning we are in for a range of interpretations when it comes to a livery launch. It’s worth noting: in advance of F1 75 Live, we’ve already seen both Williams and McLaren unveil their car designs — but not the liveries the cars will wear. For the other eight teams, everything we see will be new.
The running order will be the reverse of last season’s constructors’ championship standings, meaning the evening will kick off with Sauber and end with McLaren.
If you’re doing the math, 10 teams multiplied by seven minutes doesn’t nearly fill up a five-hour arena-sized production. That’s where the host and musical acts come into play.
What artists are performing at F1 75 Live?
F1 75 Live’s musical line-up
Photo by: Formula 1
F1 finally announced the event’s musical line-up on Monday, and it’s quite the varied bill. There’s American country singer Kane Brown and rapper mgk (formerly known as Machine Gun Kelly), who had a famous interaction with Sky F1’s Martin Brundle during the 2023 Sao Paulo GP that led to the two falling out.
Also performing are UK pop legends Take That, who these days perform as a trio, minus Robbie Williams.
Composer Bryan Tyler, who produced the F1 theme, will also provide the musical backdrop.
Who is hosting?
F1 75 Live Host
Photo by: Formula 1
The main emcee for the evening is Jack Whitehall, a London-born comedian and actor who is likely unrecognisable to the rest of the world save those who have seen “Jungle Cruise.”
Of course, since this is an F1 event, we’ll also see familiar faces from its broadcast channels, including Laura Winter and Lawrence Barretto. One we won’t see: Will Buxton, who left F1 TV to join Fox Sport’s IndyCar coverage for 2025.
Is there a way to make Lewis Hamilton central to this moment?
Absolutely. The F1 75 Live event will be Lewis Hamilton’s first public appearance with Ferrari. Expect this to generate its own flurry of headlines and social posts.
What about the other 19 teams and drivers?
Every team, aside from McLaren and Aston Martin, have a new driver lineup in whole or in part, so we’ll get to see drivers wearing new uniforms and how those relationships are building up.
What’s the deal with the O2 Arena?
The O2 Arena is a large, multi-purpose arena located in east London, sitting beside the River Thames. It has the third-highest seating capacity of any indoor venue in the UK, with a capacity of 20,000. Originally it was called the Millennium Dome, but given how time operates, that quickly turned into a white elephant until sponsorship arrived from communication firm O2.
Whatever the name, the arena was (in 2023) the third-busiest music in the world, behind New York’s Madison Square Garden and the Movistar Arena in Chile. Which is to say, F1 didn’t skimp on the party’s location.
In this article
Ben Hunt
Formula 1
Culture
Fernando Alonso
Lewis Hamilton
Nico Hulkenberg
Carlos Sainz
Max Verstappen
Esteban Ocon
Pierre Gasly
Lance Stroll
George Russell
Charles Leclerc
Alex Albon
Lando Norris
Liam Lawson
Jack Doohan
Isack Hadjar
Yuki Tsunoda
Oscar Piastri
Oliver Bearman
Gabriel Bortoleto
Andrea Kimi Antonelli
Ferrari
Red Bull Racing
Mercedes
Sauber
McLaren
Racing Bulls
Williams
Aston Martin Racing
Haas F1 Team
Alpine
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When it came to the 2025 Formula 1 drivers’ market, James Vowles didn’t think twice.
Sainz officially became available on 1 February 2024 as Ferrari revealed it had signed seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton alongside Charles Leclerc, and the four-time grand prix winner’s services were coveted over the following months.
Alpine and Sauber in particular were hoping to secure the Spaniard but failed, despite potential links between the future Audi team and his father, who had represented the German brand in the previous three runnings of the Dakar Rally.
Instead of banking on a manufacturer drive, Sainz bought into the Williams vision that was presented to him by team principal Vowles, who has now been in office for two years and set to modernise the legendary British outfit, with over 300 hires during that period.
Attracting Sainz was crucial for Williams. Incumbent Alexander Albon has delivered since he joined the team in 2022 – scoring 43 of the team’s 53 points over the last three seasons – but youngsters Logan Sargeant and Franco Colapinto both struggled with too many crashes, despite flashes of speed from the latter.
Franco Colapinto, Williams FW46
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
For Williams, Sainz is a safe pair of hands that can be trusted to bring consistent results, and an equally valuable technical mind.
“A really good way of working with Alex, especially when we look at control systems – so differentials, brake maps, etc.,” Vowles said when asked what Sainz was bringing to the team, as Williams launched its new FW47 challenger.
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“It brings a whole new dimension, where Franco, for all of his skill in the car, obviously we were almost teaching him along the way what the control systems do.
“We now have an expert in it that has won races, and that’s really brought the team up. The same with starts – think of all the ancillary items.
“So not even driving the car, I can just see a dimensional change in how we’re performing, from where we were before to where we are today.”
Vowles was particularly impressed with the immediacy of Sainz’s input, when he drove the FW46 in last year’s post-season test at Yas Marina Circuit.
“When he tested in Abu Dhabi, he gave us very good, instantaneous and direct feedback on the aerodynamics,” the Briton added. “The good news is he is aligned with Alex, and the more good news is they were areas we were targeting for 2025.
“We were able to understand where our weaknesses lay relative to a car he’d driven just a few days before that had winning potential – and more importantly make sure that the direction of travel that we’re in, which I’m pleased to say is correct, was on the right pathway.
“He knows what excellent looks like: he was in a race-winning category last year, and a car that was a benchmark for a lot of the year, so he brings that with him.
Carlos Sainz, Williams FW47
Photo by: Williams
“Finally, this one’s just a little bit more qualitative, but I see an organisation around me that is smiley, happy, whose shoulders are lifted because they can see a pathway forward towards success, and that very much has Carlos’ and Alex’s names written all over it. So that’s what he brings to it.”
How long will Sainz remain smiley himself, though? The former Toro Rosso, Renault and McLaren driver got used to being a consistent podium achiever and victory contender during his time at Ferrari, but it will be a whole different ballgame with a team whose latest top-three result on merit dates back to the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix and whose best finish in 2024 was Albon’s seventh position… in Baku as well.
“My honest point on that is I don’t know how I’m going to react to fighting for P7 to P15,” Sainz pondered. “I don’t know how much I’m going to miss it. I don’t know how much fun I’m going to find it.
“How much will I miss a win, and how jealous will I be of people that are fighting for positions that I used to be fighting for? I cannot say how much I’ll feel that.”
What will help Sainz adjust to the situation is how comfortable he is within the team. When it comes to his new squad, the veteran is rapturously laudatory: “I’m very happy, I’m very motivated, I’m excited, I feel supported.
“I have a team principal and a team that fully trusts in my abilities and that wants to listen to what I say.
“What I like from this team is that they’re extremely excited to hear me, to listen, and they’re asking a lot of questions.
“I feel everything that I’ve said has been applied, and I think it could have an impact soon.”
Carlos Sainz, Williams FW47
Photo by: Williams
Sainz too will be required to make an impact and be at the top of his game. “You can tell the midfield has caught up a lot with the top teams, and that’s why in Abu Dhabi Q1 we were all within half a second of one another,” the 30-year-old pointed out, with 0.431s then separating second-placed Valtteri Bottas from Colapinto in 19th position.
“So to fill that half a second over a full lap, we’re talking about half a tenth per corner. Am I good enough to fill half a tenth per corner? You need to be really good to fill it.”
Williams will certainly need it, as teams’ performances are expected to keep converging through this final season of regulatory stability in F1.
Additional reporting by Filip Cleeren and Alex Kalinauckas
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In this article
Ben Vinel
Formula 1
Carlos Sainz
Williams
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History is not lost on Carlos Sainz as he becomes the fourth driver in Formula 1 to race for the Big Three of Ferrari, McLaren and now Williams.
Sainz has become something of what pejoratively would be described as a journeyman, a very good driver below the absolute superstar level who has frequently moved teams in order to find a permanent home to deploy his talents, which in his case is not only his speed but also his technical nous and collaborative mentality which has made him an extremely valued member at any of his previous outfits.
Coming off the Red Bull conveyor belt in one of its most productive eras, Sainz opted to leave its satellite team Toro Rosso for two years at Renault, before landing a McLaren drive in 2019. Two years later the possibility of a dream Ferrari seat was impossible to turn down, and his four-year stint at the Scuderia was not only his longest for a single team but also his most successful, bagging four grand prix wins.
But Sainz’s Ferrari dream came to a premature end as the Italian powerhouse grabbed the opportunity to dislodge Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, forming a mouthwatering partnership of F1’s most iconic team with its most famous and successful driver.
The news was a blow to Sainz, who was then presented with a range of much less desirable midfield outfits to pick from. But he has since turned the page, finished his Ferrari stint with dignity and accepted his new challenge at Williams, the once great team that is facing a huge rebuild under investor Dorilton Capital and led by team principal James Vowles.
“The only thing I can tell you is I’m very happy, I’m very motivated, I’m excited, I feel supported,” Sainz said after taking his new car for 2025, the Williams FW47, on a first date around Silverstone at the team’s ambitious Valentine’s Day launch.
Carlos Sainz, Williams FW47
Photo by: Williams
As anyone reading this can attest to, there’s nothing like feeling valued by your employer in any professional walk of life. And Vowles was absolutely desperate to bring in someone of Sainz’s calibre for his racing pedigree, intimate knowledge of Ferrari’s race-winning methods and his cooperative personality that is bound to gel well with Alex Albon.
“I have a team principal and a team that fully trusts in my abilities and that want to listen to what I say, and I have confidence in my abilities to help the team to move forward. I like Alex as a team-mate in how we can both push this team forward, so the whole project just motivates me a lot, and I’m just looking forward.
“How much I will miss winning or how jealous I will be of people that are fighting for positions that I used to be fighting for? I cannot say that yet, but I can tell you that I’m proud and happy to be part of a team like Williams and to join a project that the team has trusted me to help them in that recovery process.”
Make no mistake about it. If Lewis Hamilton hadn’t felt the urge to leave Mercedes for a final opportunity to race in red and make a fresh start at Ferrari, and the Scuderia had presented Sainz with a long-term contract extension, he would have signed it in a heartbeat.
But even if going to Williams wasn’t his first choice, and Sainz admitted he is curious to find out how he will cope going from fighting for podiums and wins to fighting for a point, there’s an appeal to the once successful team that stretches beyond its current capacities.
Alain Prost, Williams FW15C Renault, 1st position followed by Ayrton Senna, McLaren MP4/8 Ford
Photo by: Motorsport Images
For newer F1 followers – hello and welcome – it might be harder to imagine, but long before Red Bull and Mercedes showed up, Williams, Ferrari and McLaren were the sport’s undisputed Big Three, leaving mere breadcrumbs for the competition. Between 1974 and 2004 only two other outfits managed to win the world constructors’ title, Lotus in 1978 with Mario Andretti and the late Ronnie Peterson, and the 1995 Benetton team of Michael Schumacher and Johnny Herbert. Williams’ haul of nine titles was only recently matched by McLaren last year, joint second behind Ferrari’s towering tally of 16.
Entire generations of fans therefore grew up with Williams, Ferrari and McLaren ruling the roost. So did Sainz, who was glued to the TV screen as a child in Madrid when Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya took the fight to Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher and McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen, in what would prove to be Williams’ most recent stint as a regular front-running team, with a fondness for F1 history undoubtedly passed on by his father, rally legend Carlos Sainz Sr.
Little did Carlos Junior know that he would end up racing for all three, a feat only three drivers managed before him: Jacky Ickx, Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost.
Not the worst company to be in, even if Williams’ circumstances are vastly different today than they were when Mansell and Prost muscled Williams’ Renault-powered cars to back-to-back titles in 1992 and 1993, just before Sainz was born.
Nevertheless, while signing for Williams is a massive step backwards for now, there is a historic dimension to completing the set of F1’s legacy Big Three teams he will now have driven for that is not lost on the 30-year-old.
When asked by Motorsport.com about the prospect of becoming the fourth driver to do so, he grinned: “I think if you would have asked me when I was 10 years old and I started to fall in love with Formula 1, which teams I would have loved to drive for one day, I would have definitely picked those three.
“I’m in my 10th year in Formula 1, and I’m joining Williams at a very important moment for Williams, where it’s going through some key changes in its history. Nothing would make me happier and more proud, and it would definitely be the proudest moment of my career, if one day I can be on a podium with this team.
“I want to help in that process of a historic team. It’s the second most successful team in Formula 1 and being part of that process back to the top of Formula 1 is what motivates me. I think you guys can tell I’m happy. I feel supported by this team, and I think that’s hopefully going to bring out the best version of myself.”
Carlos Sainz, Williams FW47
Photo by: Williams
Sainz is not alone in his affinity for the history of the sport and Williams itself. Team boss Vowles says he’s acutely aware of the responsibility of being a custodian of the Williams brand and the legacy left by Sir Frank Williams, the team’s iconic founder and force of nature who passed away in 2021.
“We absolutely have a responsibility towards the late Sir Frank,” Vowles said. “I joined this team because it was the benchmark in the sport that redefines certain elements for me and brought me into the sport. And that’s why I’m here heading up Williams today. It means something to me, something very deep and personal.
“My goal is simply to bring this back to a championship level and along the pathway, I want to make sure we do good to Sir Frank, his name and his legacy.”
There is plenty of evidence to suggest Williams is at least on the way up, but only time will tell if it goes all the way to the top again. But however far it may go, alongside early adopter Albon it now has another key figure in Sainz who will leave no stone unturned to get there.
The tenacious and intelligent Spaniard is just the type of driver Sir Frank would have liked.
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In this article
Filip Cleeren
Formula 1
Carlos Sainz
Williams
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New Williams driver Carlos Sainz Jnr was impressed by the team’s live launch of its 2025 car at Silverstone.
Sainz, who has joined the team from Ferrari, was first to drive the new FW47. It left its garage on schedule just over half an hour after the team began a live broadcast from the track.
The team suffered a difficult start to last season as changes at its factory meant completion of the previous car ran late and they began the year short on parts. But Sainz, whose first two laps in the car were shown live, reported no problems after his first runs.
“It has been a smooth day,” said Sainz afterwards. “We managed to complete all the run plan without any issues and I got my first proper feeling for the car.
Albon drove the FW47 after his new team mate
“It was a bold statement from Williams to show the first lap of this new car to our partners, the media, and our fans and it went very well.”
Sainz and team mate Alexander Albon each covered 100 kilometres on the short version of the track which holds the British Grand Prix. Albon said he was “really happy” with his first impression of the FW47 ahead of testing at the Bahrain International Circuit at the end of the month.
“Normally this weather makes the car feel good, and it did today. We won’t know for sure what the car is like until Bahrain, but the car was reliable, and we put on a great show for our partners and fans, so I hope everyone enjoyed that.”
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Chief engineer Dave Robson said the team encountered some teething problems but they were able to begin exploring the car’s limits before completing the maximum 200 kilometres permitted on a promotional day.
“The car ran well and, having completed a few careful laps to check that everything was working correctly, we were able to push the car hard and confirm that there were no major problems,” he said. “Inevitably, we found a few very minor issues, but these will be quickly resolved before we arrive in Bahrain, and they didn’t affect the running today.
“In the cold conditions, and using the Pirelli promotional tyres, it is impossible to assess the performance of the FW47, however, the telemetry and driver feedback suggest that the basic characteristics of the car are very close to expectation and there are no immediate handling concerns.
Pictures: Alexander Albon in the FW47
Alexander Albon, Williams, Silverstone, 2025
Alexander Albon, Williams, Silverstone, 2025
Alexander Albon, Williams, Silverstone, 2025
Alexander Albon, Williams, Silverstone, 2025
Alexander Albon, Williams, Silverstone, 2025
Alexander Albon, Williams, Silverstone, 2025
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Carlos Sainz has hailed Williams’ “bold” approach revealing – and more crucially testing – its 2025 Formula 1 car with media in attendance.
The legendary British team unveiled its new FW47 car on Thursday at Silverstone, with a live event immediately followed by a filming day for its drivers Sainz and Alexander Albon.
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This is in comparison to difficulties encountered 12 months ago with the initially overweight FW46, whose shakedown was delayed because of tricky weather but also due to car parts having been produced late.
“This is a good show of Williams’ progress, to be bold enough to prepare a test where all of our partners are here, all the media is invited to see the first laps of the car,” Sainz rejoiced. “It shows the trust that Williams has in its new tools to produce a car that is going to be here on time, is going to be working well – like it did today, without any issues.
“It’s a good showing to the outside world.”
In from Ferrari, new hire Sainz had the privilege of giving the new machinery its first laps on the shorter, 2.89km international layout based out of the grand prix pitlane.
Carlos Sainz, Williams FW47
Photo by: Williams
Initially equipped with wet tyres on a not-so-wet track, the Spaniard completed two laps before pitting and giving a short interview to Williams ambassador Jenson Button in the garage.
“Everything went fine, which is good news,” Sainz said. “An install lap of a newly born car is always a bit tricky. But everything worked as it should, and now we’re ready to get into the run plan.
“First, I need to give the feedback – you’re not letting me give the feedback! – of the two or three things that I felt that could be improved, or feeling inside the cockpit, and everything that I want to obviously talk to them about. So now, once we finish this interview, I’ll give the feedback, and then we’ll get the car ready to run on slicks and probably start pushing it little by little.”
Eventually summing up the day as “positive”, Sainz had already been impressed with the squad when he drove the FW46 at the Abu Dhabi post-season test, just days after his last grand prix appearance for Ferrari.
“That was very positive, because at Williams, in Abu Dhabi, I found a car that was honestly a bit better than I thought, or better than I expected. Obviously, with some deficiencies, compared to the cars that I’ve been driving, but not massively far off.
“I can just tell you that the I found the team full of motivation, full of energy – not easy after a triple-header; [in the] Abu Dhabi test I normally see people just wanting to go home. The energy that I saw that day – and the run plan that we managed to follow to perfection [in order to] execute a good day – was important to me, and it was a very important test that I think is going to help going into Bahrain.”
In this article
Ben Vinel
Formula 1
Carlos Sainz
Williams
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It was a moment that caused jaws to drop aplenty in the 2024 Formula 1 season: Williams team boss James Vowles revealing he’d discovered his then still-fairly-new squad was using a single, gigantic, Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to itemise its entire car build package.
The list ran to multiple thousands of cell entries – an approximate figure of 20,000 was at one stage mentioned – on a single document. It stunned Vowles when he first clapped eyes on it in 2023.
After all, it was a very far cry from the state of the art, purpose built, software systems he’d been used to working with at ex-employer Mercedes, as it churned out title-winner, after title-winner across the previous decade.
Such a discovery formed part of the Briton’s crusade in 2023 – his first as Williams team principal – to get CapEx infrastructure spending such systems fall under out of the F1 cost cap. This was a central pillar to his plan to turnaround Williams’s results.
Vowles opted to reveal the spreadsheet’s existence at the Bahrain season opener last year.
This was done to explain why the squad that’d been semi-regular points scorers in 2023 suddenly only had the pace to score once in the first 10 races of 2024 and why the team was dealing with a parts production problem.
Last year’s FW46 did not get a shakedown before pre-season testing and was later revealed to be overweight to the tune of 0.45s a lap in its initial specification. This eventually came down as the team’s upgrade plan kicked in.
Alex Albon, Williams FW46
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
The added weight was caused by many of the FW46’s parts having to initially be made using heavier metal than usually would have been the case with carbon fibre – because Vowles’ plan to go from relying on a spreadsheet that was time-consuming skimming through alone, to using the modern systems long in place at other squads meant everything took a lot longer to produce.
Those metal parts then came with added, and even more painful, costs for Williams in 2024.
Not only was the extra weight a factor in the crashes Alex Albon and his then team-mate Logan Sargeant encountered early on in Australia and Japan last year, the hefty metal parts were at times breaking chassis tubs during impacts and so enforcing added repairs and replacements – all of which had further cost cap effects.
But this time around, Williams’s new 2025 challenger – the FW47 – has been built in time for the squad to host a Silverstone shakedown attended by team partners, fans and the F1 press corps.
And, more importantly, the FW47 starts off life already at the 798kg minimum car weight limit.
When Autosport asked new Williams recruit Carlos Sainz on Friday what the team was telling him about the current car build compared to 2024, he said it’d been “night and day” different – and better.
Autosport had already quizzed Vowles about the upgrade production systems, which he revelled in first replying: “We don’t use an Excel spreadsheet!”
James Vowles, Team Principal Williams with Alex Albon, William
Photo by: Williams
“The big change is we are using modern day tools that are the benchmark for what we need to be doing,” Vowles added.
“Basically, what we call ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), MRP (Material Requirements Planning), PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) – the systems used to know what parts you have, where they are, and what the materials you have [for them], etc.
“We’re using benchmark systems 1739558607. There’s still work to do, because once you introduce that, there’s an amount of pain that comes with it.
“So, we’re not firing on all cylinders yet, but that will happen across the course of 2025.
“To answer your question, you simply can’t [have it as it was before] – almost using humans having to understand where every bit is in order to make the car.
“We’re relying now on process and structure. You always get a little bit of pain when you’re doing that [going through the process of modernising these systems] and the car next door is a testament to where we’re going.”
What Williams now has to replace the infamous spreadsheet is in effect a digital map of the FW47’s entire architecture.
Carlos Sainz, Williams FW47
Photo by: Williams
Within this – which one senior team insider described to Autosport as an arrangement in a hierarchical system for every part – the map can be quickly accessed and traversed.
Each part on the FW47 can now be visualised individually, as well as fully represented on screen, and then the parts and materials needed to be built can be itemised and categorised in depth.
The PLM element means the system can also quickly log how long all parts have been used on the car and therefore when each part is approaching the end of its lifespan.
But perhaps the most important element for Williams as 2025 pre-season testing approaches is that, having gone through its 2024 car build pain, this time around it has produced a challenger with which it already seems quietly confident.
“A good car,” as Albon put it, when Autosport asked what his first impressions had been of the design on-screen. “It’s an evolution, as you can see.
“Really impressed with the packaging of the car. I think that’s been really well done.
“I think the quality in general, if you look at the quality of the parts, has been a really great job from everyone at the factory. There’s been a step-up in that sense.”
Night and day indeed.
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In this article
Alex Kalinauckas
Formula 1
Carlos Sainz
Alex Albon
Williams
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