Williams team principal James Vowles has assured Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon are using “exactly the same equipment”, after rumours that Sainz was running a reconstructed 2024 chassis.

Instead, Vowles confirmed the two drivers are running their 2025 chassis, which in itself is an evolution on their 2024 base – which the team principal believes is an approach “a number of teams” on the grid have taken this season.

Vowles: Carlos Sainz ‘using exactly the same equipment’ as Alex Albon

Sainz scored his first point for Williams at last weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix, though that came after three post-race disqualifications for the Ferrari duo and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.

The Spanish driver admitted he has not quite got to grips with the car underneath him yet, switching after four seasons at Ferrari, with Albon having now scored more points in 2025 than he managed in the whole of 2024.

When asked to clarify the equipment the two drivers are using, the Williams boss said on his post-China Vowles Verdict: “So, a clear statement on this one: Both Alex and Carlos are using exactly the same equipment.

“The same chassis, the same front wings, the same gearboxes, everything is of the same specification and standard.

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“More specifically, the question was, are we running a ’24 chassis for Carlos? I’ll expand on that.

“Both drivers are running an evolution of last year’s chassis. It’s evolved exactly the same way, but we always intended to go through this sequence of regulation, the last year of the regulations, making sure that we are effectively evolving last year’s chassis rather than redesigning from scratch.

“And that’s really important, because it allows us to put our eggs in an investment basket of 2026 and beyond – and it’s not a financial question, it’s time resource.

“We’re all up against the cost cap, but it allows us to re-optimise and make sure that we’re getting everything for ’26 we can out of it, and we knew there was quite a bit of potential within the chassis.

“As a result of that, you can see we’ve moved up the field, and I think there’s more performance to come from the package we have at the moment.

“I’d also add that I think a number of teams on the grid have done something quite similar to what we’ve done. Not all, but most would have done, so answering the question very specifically, both drivers are using exactly the same thing, so the evolution of the ’24 chassis.”

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