The numerous incidents during 2024 significantly impacted Williams‘ results and tested the entire team of mechanics and engineers. Now, the team is ready for a fresh start with the Albon-Sainz pairing.
After the announcement that shocked the entire motorsport world—Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari—Carlos Sainz suddenly found himself without a seat for 2025. After much thought, the Spanish driver decided to bet on Williams’ project. In an interview with Motorsport.com, James Vowles admitted the importance of Albon in securing an agreement with Carlos Sainz: “What I love about Alex is his leadership. When things get tough, he steps up, no matter the circumstances, and lifts the team’s emotional strength. He was the one who encouraged us to bring Carlos into the team because he’s not worried about the challenge, he wants us to succeed.”
What will the relationship between Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon be like?
James Vowles isn’t worried, as he’s confident that there will be healthy rivalry between the two drivers. One trait that further convinced him to choose the Spanish driver is his racing style: “What I see with Carlos, does he race hard? Yes. But is he fair? Still yes. It’s very fair racing.” – he pointed out.
But will the two drivers be able to race each other or will there be team orders? Based on the Team Principal’s statements, they will be free to race each other as long as there are no consequences for the team: “I’ve always had a rule, it’s fair to race. It’s not a problem to race, but you don’t hit each other, you don’t push each other off the track. You do it like a sportsman, you do it cleanly, respecting the brand you’re representing.” James Vowles continues: “But as long as you create the right environment where they know this is how we can race with each other… And there will be points where I’ll say, you can’t. We need to bring this result home. Because the result is more important than where you finish individually. This is a very different situation to face.”
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