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The Hindu
12-05-2025
- Automotive
- The Hindu
‘We have a car that is better than we've ever had before' – James Vowles, Williams Team Principal
The name Williams has been synonymous with Formula One for half a century. Founded by Sir Frank Williams in the late '70s, the Grove-based outfit dominated the sport for two decades, winning seven Drivers' and nine Constructors' titles before the turn of the millennium. The British team has found the going tough over the last few years, finishing dead last in the standings four times between 2018 and 2022, collecting just 39 points over the duration. Under the ownership of US-based Dorilton Capital, and with former Mercedes Motorsport Strategy Director James Vowles at the helm since 2023, Williams has made rapid strides. The constructor eclipsed its 2024 points tally within four races of the 2025 season and looks set to challenge for fifth in the standings for the first time since 2017. Taking over from the Williams family, who nurtured the team for 43 years, is no easy task, but Vowles has managed to instil confidence into the struggling outfit in his role as Team Principal. In an exclusive chat with Sportstar on the sidelines of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Vowles spoke at length about the team's progress, his data-driven approach, preparing the garage for the soon-to-arrive regulations, the future of the sport, and more. Five races into 2025, Williams has gotten off to a fast start compared to the last four seasons. How's the mood in the garage? Highly positive. I think we always have to remember where we've come from. It is a privilege and a pleasure to be racing with a car that can score points every weekend — and it is — with two world-class drivers. You'd be surprised how much that carries you through the tireless and sleepless nights. You've spoken about the continuous improvement you looked to bring when you took on this role in 2023. Two years on, do you think you're on the right track? Yeah, I think the direction of travel is a good one. This car isn't what we've put our focus on. We've just been fixing some foundational issues, putting in system software, infrastructure, culture, technology, people — and it's nice to see that the car is moving up and corresponds to that. We have a car that is better than we've ever had before. I think the real test is breaking away from the midfield, closer to the front. Track stars: Vowles with the two Williams drivers — Carlos Sainz (left) and Alex Albon (right). | Photo Credit: Getty Images You touched upon your two drivers, Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz. Both of them are very experienced in the top tier of racing. What is it like working with them? It's a breath of fresh air. First of all, there's no politics. Neither one wants anything more than for the team to be successful, which means that every meeting we have is about the greater good. How do we make it better next year? What's our direction of travel? What can I do to help? It's great to see that dedication they're putting into the team. Over the last decade or so, Williams has given so many drivers their first shot at F1. Was it a genuine choice to go with two experienced drivers? It was very much a case of me wanting experienced drivers by my side. I love investing in young drivers — they absolutely have a future with Williams. But we also have to acknowledge that last year, our attrition was high, and it meant we couldn't move forward in the field. For a few years, we've got to take stock and start developing this team into championship material. Does the tag of being F1's fourth most successful team weigh heavily on you? Is there added pressure? I don't think anything will put more pressure on me than I put on myself. That's probably the right way to describe it. The reason I'm here is because of our history. It's an incredible history. I want this team to be successful with all my heart. I'll make it my career goal to do so. That's more pressure than our legacy. Right from your time with Mercedes, you've been very data-driven. Does it help that both your drivers are of the same ilk? There's a reason why I've surrounded myself with individuals who are built the same way I am. That goes for our drivers, our senior management and our leaders. Data has to be at the heart of what you're doing. Because if you have someone going in a different direction, you can deviate from what is good. This is a slightly different year for development, considering the new regulations coming in next season. Will teams focus on circuit-specific development? You're going to find an interesting debate taking place up and down the pit lane. And that debate probably is between now and June. Do we do more, do we do less? There'll be some teams like Ferrari who came out and said, 'No! We have to fix this.' Red Bull also said that not long ago. But for teams like ourselves, our future isn't racing for 8th, 9th or 7th. Our future is racing for championships. You'll see we're making sacrifices for the next few years to bring ourselves to where we need to be. Cut to the chase: Sainz and Albon battle it out at the Saudi Arabian GP. | Photo Credit: Getty Images When the cost cap rule was brought in, you explained how Williams was behind the leaders in capital expenditure, leaving you short on machinery and software. Two years on, are you better placed? Yes, I was able to get us USD 20 million more, but by the time we finished the meeting, I think it was all spent. The rules are changing in 2026. You can spend whatever you want on capital expenditure, but you have to pay for the depreciation in your annual operating cap. The 20 million allowed us to do the short-term bits that were needed, and the remainder will be done in conjunction with those rules. An interesting topic came up in the press conferences in Saudi Arabia, about the V8 and V10 engines being brought back. What is your take on it? Is that the direction F1 should take? Let's race with the rules that we've spent three years and hundreds of millions of dollars developing. After we've been racing for some time, let's take an honest step back. Are we doing the right thing for the sport, for the world? I love the sound of the old V10s and V8s, but we also have to be honest with ourselves. I think what we are asking for is, let's make sure we have a tone to the engine — a sound that has emotion to it. Both drivers have mentioned a fundamental issue affecting performance, which is a characteristic of the Williams car in itself. How difficult is it to handle an issue related to the structure? The important thing is an open, honest discussion about what the real problems are, to make sure that we are not taking them into future cars. It's a problem that has been here for many years. Though we've made improvements between 2023–24 and 2024–25, it's nowhere near the level of the top three teams. We need a bigger change to improve it considerably — and that's what Carlos and Alex are bringing to the party. F1 requires fast cars to win championships. But how important is the team behind it? How much does the backroom staff influence a team? Everything is about people and culture. People create your systems, processes and communications. The fast car is just an output from a thousand people working well together. I am not the reason why this team will be successful. My job is just to bring the right people together. If you don't have a set of people pointing the right way, the team will not win a world championship. Every single person matters. Related Topics Williams / Formula One
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Who is Franco Colapinto, Alpine's newest F1 driver?
After a disappointing start to his Formula 1 career, Australian racer Jack Doohan has been replaced at the Alpine F1 team by reserve driver Franco Colapinto. The switch will see Colapinto race for the French team from F1's next outing at Imola, for at least five rounds. Franco Colapinto, MP Motorsport Franco Colapinto, MP Motorsport Formula Motorsport Ltd Formula Motorsport Ltd Advertisement Colapinto's F2 career got off to a slow start in 2024, but his fortunes turned around following an in-season test in Spain. He then picked up his first win in the sprint race at Imola and became a regular challenger at the front. Williams continued Colapinto's preparations for F1 and he completed FP1 at the 2024 British Grand Prix, which allowed him to get acquainted with the Williams FW46. Soon, he was given the Williams seat full-time after the Grove-based team decided to part ways with American racer Sargeant. This gave Colapinto nine races to prove himself at Williams, which he did with a best finish of eighth at the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. This sparked rumours of a move to the Red Bull camp for the 2025 season, but the Argentinian's inexperience showed with a pair of violent crashes in Las Vegas and Brazil, and this put Red Bull off his scent. The 21-year-old was subsequently signed by Alpine as a reserve driver for the 2025 season, where he worked in the simulator and stood on the sidelines waiting for his time to shine. To read more articles visit our website.
New York Times
15-02-2025
- Automotive
- New York Times
Why Williams appears poised for F1 progress with its Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon chapter
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. Advertisement 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.' GO DEEPER Prime Tire: Max Verstappen's big sim racing plans; McLaren and Williams drivers speak 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. Advertisement '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.' Advertisement 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.' Advertisement '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.
