Fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship with 37 points. Only one race—in Bahrain—without a Top 10 finish and a 17-point gap over the closest rival. Williams’ start to the 2025 Formula 1 season has far exceeded expectations, yet it’s striking to think that at Grove they have been and still are focusing more on 2026, essentially considering this current championship less important.
The foundations for progress over 2024 were clear from the signing of Carlos Sainz. But few could have predicted such a significant improvement.
The FW47 performs well on almost every track, and only a few unusual mistakes by Carlos Sainz have prevented a higher points tally, which already stands at 37. All this while the team is fully focused on the FW48, the car being developed under the new 2026 technical regulations coming into effect next January 1st.
James Vowles, Grove’s team principal, recently declined to take credit for these improvements. Instead, he praised the organization and work of his people, the real secret behind the FW47 being better than its predecessor thanks to targeted and precise interventions in recent months to improve the philosophy chosen for the 2024 car.
“I don’t think this year’s step forward reflects what I personally did, but rather the organization we put in place. It’s about foundations. Even though the 2025 car isn’t one we’ve put a lot of effort into, including wind tunnel work, we managed to solve some key issues from 2024 and carry everything forward coherently, without losing focus on the 2026 car. That’s something I really like.”
“I haven’t had the whole team working on the 2025 car. The main priority is 2026. It was about making sure we had designs ready and the car in the wind tunnel by early January, ensuring no distractions. That’s what I’m most proud of.”
Right now, everything at Williams is running smoothly and efficiently thanks to organizational processes. These allow the team to meet deadlines, produce new parts on reasonable timelines, identify weak areas of the car and fix them, without forgetting communication, development, and staying within budget—an increasingly important aspect in recent years.
“All organizational aspects are moving in the right direction: communication, development pace, teamwork, timing for bringing upgrades to the track, quality, punctuality, and budget compliance. All of this is working. I know it doesn’t sound thrilling, but the FW47 is the result of fixing some fundamental issues. That’s what excites me,” James Vowles concluded ahead of the Imola Grand Prix.
Leave a Reply