Williams Recap 2025

For Williams, 2025 was a significant step forward as the team climbed to fifth in the Constructors’ Championship. With more consistency and fewer errors compared to the last few seasons, Williams managed to outscore their midfield rivals. Let’s have a look at how they did that.

(Image credits to @williamsracing on Instagram)

Highlights

Williams returned to the podium twice in the 2025 season, marking their first top-three finishes since George Russell’s second place at the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix. Both podiums were delivered by Sainz, with the first one being in Baku at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. After a very strong qualifying during the chaotic session, we saw him start from second on Sunday. He managed his race effectively to convert his efforts into a third-place finish. This result proved a turning point in his Williams tenure, demonstrating his ability to rise to the occasion after a difficult start to the season. The second podium was in Qatar, where Sainz finished third again after he fought himself up from P7, holding off Norris in the final laps. While Albon didn’t reach the podium this season, he played a key part in Williams’ Constructor’s standings battle. The Thai driver secured four fifth-place finishes this season, his highest result in 2025, scoring him 10 points on each occasion. This clearly underlined his importance in the team’s overall points haul.

Struggles

With many highs, Williams also had their fair share of low moments too. One of the more challenging periods came in the middle of the season when Albon faced three consecutive race retirements, which occurred in Spain, Canada and Austria and halted the team’s momentum at a crucial stage of the championship. The Austrian Grand Prix proved particularly damaging to the team. To top off the bad luck, Sainz failed to start the race after an issue with the car on the formation lap. This meant both drivers missed the opportunity to set their mark on a competitive weekend. Additionally, there was also the double disqualification for the Williams drivers after the Singapore Grand Prix Qualifying due to technical infringements, causing the pair to start further down the grid.

Statistics (Podiums, Wins, Constructors standings)

Williams finished fifth in the 2025 Constructors’ Championship with a total of 137 points scored. Albon came eighth in the World Drivers’ Championship with 73 points and Sainz came ninth with 64 points. As previously mentioned, Albon didn’t achieve any wins or podiums in the 2025 season - his highest finish was P5 in Australia, Miami, Emilia-Romagna and the Netherlands. Sainz stood on the podium twice with P3 finishes in Baku and Qatar. When it came to the DHL Fastest Laps in 2025, Albon managed to get one.

Big news

As for Williams, they will be heading into 2026 with renewed confidence after delivering their strongest season in nearly a decade. The podiums and fifth-place finish overall suggest the team is actively climbing back up the order. Stability with the car under the supervision of Vowels has provided the team with a clearer direction. However, keeping this upward trajectory means eliminating previous reliability issues and operational errors that disrupted key moments in 2025. 

Alex Albon

Albon’s season wasn’t the most smooth sailing as he had DNF’s in 4 races throughout the season. However, he did have many good results with 4 P5 finishes and 10 finishes in the top 10. Alex ended the 2025 season on 73 points.

Carlos Sainz

Similar to his teammate, Sainz didn’t have the best start to his 2025 season with a DNF in the opening race at Albert Park and in the first half of the season, he didn’t manage to finish within the top 5. In the second half, he still had two DNFs but there was considerable progress being made as in both Baku and Qatar Sainz stood on the podium after taking the P3 spot. He ended the season with 64 points and 9th in the Driver's Championship.

If Williams can keep building on their 2025 momentum in 2026 and continue to strengthen their race weekends, the climb up the order may not be temporary as the foundation has already been laid out for a return to competitiveness.

Article written by Ria Wiktor, Sania Zimmermann

© Ria Wiktor, Sania Zimmermann 2025