Williams Racing will be hoping that the 2025 Formula 1 season is much more positive than last year’s campaign.
Team principal James Vowles had to make the difficult decision to drop Logan Sargeant but was widely praised for promoting Franco Colapinto in his place.
Going into the last few races of the season, Williams appeared to have an outside chance of catching Racing Bulls and Haas before Alpine’s exceptional double-podium in Sao Paulo relegated the team to ninth in the constructors’ championship.
Alex Albon and Colapinto made several critical mistakes at the end of the season that left Williams short of parts.
It was a trend throughout the season that Williams were on the limit when it came to the resources available to them.
Sargeant was forced to sit out the Australian Grand Prix as Albon destroyed his chassis in a practice crash and the team didn’t have a spare.
Although Williams claimed to be in a better position at the end of the season, Colapinto and Albon’s crashes in Sao Paulo and Las Vegas meant the team were constantly on the back foot and progress was extremely difficult.
Vowles has been speaking about the team’s tricky 2024 campaign in an interview with The Mirror.
He explained just how the team’s progress was constantly complicated by the repeated shunts his drivers had as the campaign went on.
James Vowles says Williams crashes led to the ‘worst thing’ he’s experienced in Formula 1
Talking about the 17 crashes his drivers were involved in during 2024, Vowles said: “It’s a number that I haven’t seen anything close to that ever in my career.
“It’s cost us and it’s cost us heavily. Every time we move forward, we’re actually looking backwards trying to repair things. It’s the worst thing you could ever hope for.”
READ MORE: James Vowles explains how Franco Colapinto has had the ‘biggest impact’ on Williams’ 2025 preparations
Vowles followed this up by admitting that 2024 was more ‘tricky than expected’ for the team.
Colapinto’s crashes put Red Bull off trying to sign him when it became clear that they would potentially have a vacancy within one of their two teams in 2025.
Instead, Alpine signed Colapinto as the Argentine’s path onto the grid at Williams in 2025 was blocked by Albon and new signing Carlos Sainz.
Why James Vowles is more positive about the 2025 season for Williams
The combination of Sainz and Albon at Williams this year should give the team a clear boost in 2025.
Talking about the upcoming campaign, Vowles said: “From the outset, what I wanted to do was to bring the very best into this team.
“This is not the old Williams, this is not, ‘Let’s have pay drivers’. This is, ‘Who’s the best?’ And start talking to them and get them there.
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“The reason why I call it the best driver pairing is because there’s no politics between either of those drivers.
“Alex and Carlos, neither one was political – they just want to go quick and they just want to develop the team into a quick team. For where Williams is, that’s the right partnership, the right line-up.”
There is a lot of positivity surrounding Williams heading into the 2025 season, primarily because with the resources and drivers available to them, it’s hard to imagine things getting worse.
Sainz has been overwhelmingly positive about Williams during his short time with the team, but that will quickly dissipate if they’ve not improved at the same rate as their midfield rivals over the winter.
