James Vowles explains what has been ‘painful’ for Williams in 2025 despite their best start in 10 years

Follow us on Google Discover

Williams have taken a massive step forward in 2025 as they go from backmarkers to the best of the rest.

While team principal James Vowles has abandoned development in 2025 to focus on the 2026 F1 regulations, the Grove outfit have made huge improvements on and off the track.

The signing of Carlos Sainz from Ferrari has improved technical feedback, which has, along with Alex Albon, dramatically changed the mood around the factory. This has translated to results on the track, with Williams sitting fifth in the standings as 2025 heads into the summer break.

With 70 points on the board, the team have scored more than four times their points tally in 2024. It is their best start to a season since the mid-2010s, having regressed to the back of the grid in recent years.

But despite an impressive start to 2025, their rivals are beginning to catch up with upgrades. It is why Vowles has been left with ‘mixed emotions’ about the first half of the season.

James Vowles rues ‘painful’ races where Williams have lost points in 2025

Sainz thinks Williams have ‘fallen a little short’ with development in 2025, due to their efforts with the 2026 car. It has led to the likes of Sauber, Aston Martin and Racing Bulls to make gains while the Grove outfit have struggled in recent races.

The team have only grabbed three points finishes in the last six Grand Prix, having thrown away valuable points across the season. Williams caused controversy with Sainz in Miami over his strategy, which saw Albon overtake him due to miscommunication.

Mechanical issues in Austria caused a double retirement, with Sainz not even getting out of the pit lane, while Albon was running an impressive sixth. Vowles looks back at those races as missed opportunities to extend the gap between their rivals.

“How I feel first of all, mixed emotions. I’m very proud of where we’ve come from. We have to remember this is our best start to a season for over a decade and we’ve done well to score a good number of points on our journey here,” he said via the official Williams YouTube channel.

“So that’s the positive aspect of things. The negative is always when I reflect back on certain races, Imola being one with strategy with Carlos. Miami being another, which is a combination of accident, car damage and conditions.

“We had more points that we could have scored across those two events where the car was performing very, very well.

“And the same in Austria, we had a reliability fault with Alex when the car was running P6 and comfortably P6 at that point in time. So, I know there’s real tangible points we’ve left on the table and in a close-fought championship as it is, that’s painful.”

READ MORE: All to know about Williams Racing from team principal to Mercedes ties

Will Williams be in a strong position in 2026?

With promising signs being shown in 2025, many will be wondering if Williams will take another step forward in 2026, given that they were one of the first teams to prioritise development on the new regulations.

Reports are suggesting that Mercedes will have the fastest engine in 2026, which could propel Williams up the order. The Grove outfit are even being backed by George Russell to be the team to beat in 2026.

Vowles disagrees with Russell’s comments, but the boss remains optimistic about their chances next season. It is unclear where Williams will be come 2026 at this stage, with no one knowing where anyone is until the cars take to the track.

Albon says Williams are looking to copy Red Bull with the new regulations, given their success in the ground effect era. They hope to gain an advantage over the field by prioritising the 2026 rules.