James Vowles issues surprise verdict after ‘fundamental’ Williams issue was ‘exposed’ at the Spanish Grand Prix

The Spanish Grand Prix has not yielded much success for Williams in recent years. That streak continued in 2025.

The Grove outfit have not had a car score points at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona since 2017. In fact, Juan Pablo Montoya’s second place in 2002 and Pastor Maldonado’s win in 2012 are the only podiums Williams have scored at the Spanish Grand Prix this century.

Despite an encouraging start to 2025, team principal James Vowles knew full well that the Spanish GP would be a difficult weekend for the team. He was proved right as Carlos Sainz was knocked out in Q1 and Alex Albon just missed out on Q3.

Albon suffered severe damage at the start of the race before colliding with Liam Lawson and being hit with a penalty. He retired on lap 27 for only the Thai driver’s second non-points finish of the season.

Sainz also sustained damage, but limped on and could only manage 14th as Williams’ pointless streak in Barcelona continues. The result marks only the second time the team have not had a car in the points in 2025, but the Spanish GP ‘exposed’ several weaknesses.

James Vowles claims it is a ‘good thing’ that Williams issues were ‘exposed’ at the Spanish GP

Albon said after the race that the team needed to understand why long corners and the Barcelona circuit specifically were hindering their performance. Speaking via the official Williams YouTube channel, Vowles admitted that ‘at least two fundamental’ problems were ‘exposed’ over the weekend.

However, the team principal surprisingly said that this was ‘a good thing’. This is because Williams can now run background checks on the problems that they have, so they can snuff them out going forward into 2026.

“I enjoy events that remind us that we have to keep digging deep and scrapping, that we haven’t fixed everything we need to on our journey back towards the front,” he said.

“And Barcelona does exactly that. It exposed, I would say, two really quite fundamental issues that are still yet to be resolved to the right level within our car.

“That’s a good thing because that being exposed creates opportunity to run several tests and several diagnostic afterwards, in order to ensure that as we go to future events this year that we’ll have similar corner profiles, understand whether we have made any move forward or not.

“And perhaps most importantly, make sure that we’re running something into ’26 where we’re looking at these issues and rectifying them.”

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Williams are still clear of the midfield despite Spanish GP disappointment

Despite failing to score points in Spain, Williams still have a solid buffer in P5 in the standings. While Barcelona highlighting some problems, the Grove outfit have consistently shown they are the strongest team in the midfield.

Vowles is building the team towards being a frontrunner in the future, as Williams focus their attention on 2026 and the new regulations.

Vowles has noticed a ‘palpable’ change behind the scenes as the team spirit and work ethic are high. Albon and Sainz have played a key part in that, but they still have a way to go before they can properly challenge the top four teams.

Sainz says Williams ‘won’t be ready’ to win races in 2026 as he admits that, while they have enjoyed some strong performance this season, the team must grow as a whole to fight at the front.