Why Williams appears poised for F1 progress with its Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon chapter

New York Times

15-02-2025

Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz sat side-by-side on stools inside the garages at Silverstone Circuit that created the makeshift studio for Williams' 2025 Formula One launch.
The car was being prepared for its first running at the home of the British Grand Prix, built overnight at 4 a.m., according to team principal James Vowles, but before either driver could hop into the FW47, the new teammates played a round of what host Steve Jones, who works for Channel 4 F1, called, 'Mr. & Mr.' The game tests how well two people know each other, and some of the questions for Albon and Sainz may be surprising — such as whether they sleep in pajamas or what their go-to karaoke track is. Albon called some of the questions 'so odd' after Sainz was asked when Albon had his first kiss: 12 or 16 years old.
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Neither got a perfect score, which anyone would likely agree is probably for the best. The whole production did answer one of the many questions in viewers' minds. How are Albon and Sainz gelling? After all, fans have already given them their nickname — 'Carbon' — which 'suggests cohesion, a tight-knit duo,' as Jones pointed out.
With Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari, Sainz opted to sign for Grove-based Williams. It means Albon, for the first time since joining Williams in 2022, faces a more experienced teammate, unlike Nicholas Latifi, Logan Sargeant and Franco Colapinto. Williams is aiming to take a step forward this year before the regulation changes in 2026, and to do so, it'll need consistency from both drivers, working for the betterment of the team.
'This will not be successful if any one individual is above the team, that's whether it's myself, Carlos or Alex. It needs all three of us, and then a thousand individuals pointing the right way with the sole goal of this team becoming championship contenders,' Vowles said. 'And that means along the journey, there's going to be one driver or one individual that is doing worse one weekend or the other; they're aware of that, and we've already had that very direct chat about it. They're very much in that mindset.'
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Once the Hamilton to Ferrari move was announced on Feb. 1, 2024, Sainz became the most sought-after individual in the drivers' market. He had four career wins to his name by the end of last season, which is something none of Albon's previous Williams teammates have achieved. The Spaniard is known for his methodical approach and thoughtful feedback, and he helped both McLaren and Ferrari better understand their cars when they were struggling.
One would assume Albon would feel pressure, given how he's helped the team with its rebuilding efforts and largely gone unchallenged in recent seasons while scoring a majority of the team's points (four out of eight in 2022, 27 out of 28 in 2023 and 12 out of 17 last year). In F1, your stiffest competition typically is your teammate. However, he has a healthier view of the situation.
'If I'm honest, no,' Albon said. 'Maybe I look at it differently to other people, but I see it as: the better my teammate, the better that I can go up against someone who's got a big reputation, who's just come from a very strong year.'
As Albon noted, 2024 was Sainz's most successful F1 campaign. Looking at stats alone, he won in Australia, just days removed from surgery after having appendicitis, and again in Mexico. He secured pole position that race and stood on the podium nine times, four of which came in the final six grands prix.
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'That's a great challenge to have but also a positive outlook for me,' Albon said. 'I believe in myself, and I'm happy to go up against anyone.'
They've only done limited track running together, a recent test out in Barcelona. But Albon can already tell from 'the work we do in the simulator, it's all going in the same direction.' He feels that the two of them are similar, describing Sainz as 'a thinking driver' and putting himself in that category as well. He added, 'It's a good base to work from.'
'He's clearly bringing a lot of information from Ferrari, different ways of working and different ways to optimize their package,' Albon later said. 'It's different to Williams, but it's very interesting, not just for the team, but for myself as well.'
It may still be early days, but it sounds like a more united front within the Williams camp as they continue the rebuilding process. The cohesion doesn't come as a complete surprise given the drivers' reputations. Sainz connected well with previous teammates Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc.
Tension may inevitably arise when Albon and Sainz race against each other — but the bigger picture is the long-term view of this project, which is why being open is critical at this early stage. The Spaniard explained how he's 'never seen a guy that is so genuine and so open and so willing to make progress with the team and hear me, tell me about what he knows already about the team, about the car, sharing with me, 'What do you think about this? What do you think about that?', and I bounce back and ask him so many other questions.'
Sainz later added, 'If we want to make this team competitive again and fight for wins again, we just need to push in the same direction and maybe sacrifice a bit of our own driver secrets or driver things that you would keep for yourself to maybe this time share them to see if we can have a faster progress.'
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Vowles shared how the two drivers had worked well together, such as when the team analyzed brake maps or control systems. It differs from how Colapinto, 21, had fit into the equation.
'It brings a whole new dimension, where Franco, for all of his skill in the car, we were almost teaching him along the way what the control systems do,' Vowles said. 'We now have an expert in it that has won races, and that's brought the team up.'
And there's the case of postseason testing this month. Having Sainz participate was huge for Williams. Fresh out of a Ferrari that fought for race wins and finished 14 points behind McLaren, the Spaniard could compare how the two cars felt in Abu Dhabi. Sainz said, 'I found a car that was a bit better than I expected — obviously with some deficiencies compared to the cars that I've been driving, but not massively far off.'
Vowles confirmed on Friday that the team determined is on the right path — and the team principal is pleased with how morale continues to improve.
'I see an organization around me that is smiley, happy, shoulders lifted, because they can see a pathway towards success,' Vowles said. 'And that has Carlos and Alex's names all over it.'
Vowles has been clear since the start of his tenure that Williams was a long-term project. Even with 2025 expected to be fairly tight, considering how things ended in Abu Dhabi, 2026 remains a big target when new rules mean cars will be smaller, lighter and more agile.
'The bias is very much towards 2026,' he said. 'On the 2nd of January, the 2026 car was in the wind tunnel and it hasn't exited since then.'
But that doesn't mean Williams hasn't (or won't) work on this year's car. It managed to put a car that was on time and on the weight limit on track on Friday — a feat that it didn't accomplish last year. And we can't forget the context of last season and the team's 20 crashes across 24 race weekends. Vowles said that while that impact is not noticeable yet, 'there will be a small amount of pain, that's just the fact behind it.'
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'The best way I can summarize it to you is I don't think it will have a substantive effect on the championship, which ultimately is how we're adjudicated this year. It will have a dollar impact, but we'll deal with it.'
Williams, though, does have an influx of cash coming. The team announced a new title sponsor, Atlassian, leaving McLaren as the only F1 team without one. Vowles described it as the biggest deal for Williams and one of the biggest for the sport. But the impact of this partnership is more than just the financial element.
'It's a partnership of two organizations that have very close synergies on how we act and how we behave. Everything is about collaboration and teamwork,' Vowles explained. 'It's about how you pull individuals together and point the right way. It's about being a challenger to other brands and other systems and other dynamics.'
That concept — collaboration — has been a theme, not just since Vowles started at Williams but also throughout the launch on Friday. The Williams of today is different from the Williams of two years ago and the Williams of the championship eras. It's hard to say where the Grove-based team will fit in the constructor rankings this season — which Albon feels 'will be the tightest grid in Formula One history' — but progression is needed. The team has started on the right foot by correcting its early errors from last year, having one of the strongest driver lineups in its recent history, and continuing its team personnel and sponsorship growth.
The Williams of tomorrow is starting to take shape.
'As a team, our main target is to keep showing progress and momentum,' Sainz said. 'As a team, we are coming off the back of very difficult years, but the last few years, you can tell the team is in an upwards trajectory. The wave is growing with the arrival of our title sponsor, Atlassian, the fact that I joined the team.
'I see progress. I see motivation. I see people wanting to get this thing back to the front of the grid. This season is all about showing that and not letting the wave stop.'
Additional reporting from Luke Smith.