Coming off the 2014 & 2015 Formula 1 seasons, where the Williams Racing Team secured 3rd place finishes in the Constructors championship, the team went into a downward spiral of positions dropping to 10th in the late 2020's. This is a position that they continued to struggle to move up from with the team being 9th in 2024.

But it was during this period that the team would be sold finding new owners with Dorilton Capital. Part of this change in ownership would see new team management being brought in commencing in 2021 with Jos Capito and then followed in 2023 with the current Team Principal James Vowles. Under this new ownership and management the team would start to see a major push to improve items such as the infrastructure, systems and processes all aimed at bringing the team up to match that of their rivals.

So we have just completed the 2025 Formula 1 season which would see the Williams team secure an incredible fifth place in the constructors championship, a significant step forward over the previous years. For team principal James Vowles he said that this was a "dream" result. For James this result was one that at the start of the 2025 season was very much unexpected.

James said: "I couldn’t be prouder. P5 in the constructors’ championship. If anyone said that to us 12 months ago, it would have been at best a dream. And yet to our name today, that’s what we’ve achieved."

Two of the main players in achieving this 5th place result have to be team drivers Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz. It has to be said that without the performances of Alex and Carlos the 2025 season would have been far different.

For Alex he has been with the team for quite a few seasons with limited success but in 2025 he would finish 8th in the Drivers championship after a very encouraging first half of the season.

Alex commented: "At least for me, it’s been a longer road to get up to P5 and I feel like it’s been a huge step. Every year we’ve made progress.

"I’m so excited for the future of this team. I feel like we are getting closer. I think the gap, it’s fair to say from P10 to P5 is smaller than the gap from P5 to P1. But at the same time, I believe in this team and I believe we’re going to get there."

For Carlos 2025 was his first season with the Williams team having moved from Ferrari after been convinced by James Vowles that the team offered the potential for him to return to being with a successful team. And that it most certainly did with Carlos been able to secure three third place finishes for the team in what was a very successful second half of the season, finishing 9th in the Drivers championship. The combined results of both Alex and Carlos would produce the team amazing 5th place finish.

At the recent Qatar Grand Prix Carlos commented: "I’m extremely proud of everyone for this P5 finish. This podium today, I think it just shows all the progress that the team is doing behind the doors.

"But then all that work behind the doors, we are able to show it in days like today, executing a perfect race, perfect strategy, perfect pit stops. Everything went really, really well."

Also at the Qatar event James highlighted the improvement in performance the team has experienced since its ninth-place finish in 2024 with just 17 points. In contrast the team would score 137 points in 2025.

James said: "Exceptional. Really fantastic performance from Carlos and the team when it counted and every detail adds up. Getting on the podium by milliseconds really is such a just reward for the incredible work the whole team is putting in this year.

"I was proud of Carlos and the team when we got our first podium in Baku; the second is a dream come true, but perhaps more importantly at a track that was almost our worst last year. And we've come back, we've reinvented ourselves and the result is there for everyone to see.

"Finally, fifth would have been a dream come true just 12 months ago when we were languishing in ninth in the constructors' championship. Thank you very much."

"I think its fair to say, it exceeds our expectations. We wanted to make a step forward from where we were.

"We wanted to make sure that we demonstrated to the world we’re a different team to where we have been, and that we’re making strides forward.

"But never losing focus on our future i.e 2026 and beyond. And this year, to still hold on to that P5 position, and more than that to have three podiums to our name and a huge points score that exceeds our expectations."

Looking back at the 2025 season there were quite a few highlights for the Williams team with the first being the solid start from Alex with a sixth in qualifying followed by a fifth place finish in the season opening Australian Grand Prix. This was followed on by strong finishes in Miami, Imola and then later in the season with the Dutch event. Despite not achieving a podium result Alex certainly played a significant role in the overall points tally.

Supporting Alex's results Carlos, after a period of settling in at the team, would deliver a podium finish in Azerbaijan followed by a Sprint podium in Austin and then a podium finish in Qatar. It certainly demonstrated Carlos ability to rise to improve not only his own performances but also that of the team.

But one should not forget that the season also saw Williams impacted by periods of unreliability which slowed the teams progress during the season. The most notable being the Austrian Grand Prix where Carlos was forced to retire having not made the start and Alex would also retire.

Across both drivers they would DNF in seven events, something that impacted on their season. Added to this was issues like the double disqualification in Singapore that hampered both drivers races. It certainly raises the question of how much better their 2025 season would have been had these issues not been present.

So with a successful 2025 season one has to ask where does this place the team in terms of their potential in the 2026 season. It has to be said that under James leadership the team has certainly positioned itself to continue its upward trajectory. But the team must work on removing their reliability issues if they want to progress beyond their 5th place. But overall one has to believe that 2025 has seen the team lay the foundations for what could be an even more competitive 2026 season.