Vowles celebrates Williams F1 moment, but warns: “Ferrari will bring improvements”

Of transition … to revolution. What should be a year of waiting for Williams, with an eye on 2026, has become an authentic declaration of intentions. In Miamisixth Grand prize Of the year, the British team was consecrated as the great revelation of the course: it was the fourth best team of the weekend, ahead of Ferrari, and with a Alex Albon who signed a sensational fifth place in the race.

Carlos Sainz, weighed by a touch with his partner and an unfavorable strategy, ended ninth, but showed a great adaptation to the car again. All on a Sunday that confirmed that Williams There is no longer to survive, but to compete.

“It’s absolutely fantastic,” he acknowledged James Vowles After the race. “The car was fast since Friday and both pilots were very strong during the weekend. This is a fair reward for all the work that the team is doing.” Williams Chief, who has led a silent transformation since he arrived in Grove in 2023he was especially proud of the team’s performance after a difficult Saturday. “We had a car made pieces in the morning, a touch in Carlos’s, the loss of points with Alex … and yet the team was recomposed and went out to show that we are fast. I want that to be seen.”

The race was the confirmation of a trend that was already intuited. Williams is not only the team that has best taken advantage of the regulatory stability of 2025, but has become a real threat to historical such as Ferrari. In Miami, those of Maranello They were the fifth car in pure rhythm, while Albon He fought – for moments – with Mercedes, being ahead of Antonelli. Even Sainzwho had to deal with an incident with his partner and a team order ignored by the Thai, was competitive.

They do not change their strategy: improvements will not arrive

“We must be realistic: it’s just a career,” he said Vowles. “Ferrari will bring great improvements in Icola and we are not so much. But this shows that we are going in the right direction. The important thing is to keep refining the step step by step during the year. “

The message is clear: Williams He will not launch the bells on the fly. In fact, its development will be limited. Vowles himself admitted that they do not have as many news planned as their rivals, which could condition their ability to stay in the fight. Even so, the team leader does not hide his ambition, even when he remembers the five points lost in the Sprint for a controversial penalty: “Those five points will be stuck all year old.”

And is that the British, who, being a year of transition, did not expect great results, They are fifth in the World Cup with 37 pointsfollowed by Haas, with 20 and in F1 and for a smaller team like those of Grove, maintaining this fifth place could be vital, because there are many millions at stake.

The good moment comes in a special context. Carlos Sainz landed in Williams after his departure from Ferrari, with 2025 marked as a transition campaign, waiting for the great regulatory change of 2026. But what seemed like a risk commitment, today looks like a successful movement. The car is competitive, the internal environment seems solid, and the growth potential is there. Everything, with the horizon placed in that new technical cycle and the expected Mercedes engine that, as rumored in the paddock, could be the great dominator of the future.

At the moment, the present already invites us to dream. Because Williams has ceased to be a surprise. And that, in Formula 1, is the most difficult to achieve.