Formula 1 Chinese GP
James Vowles has "mixed emotions" after Williams equals 2024 points total
Just three races into 2025, Williams has already matched its entire 2024 points tally - but team boss James Vowles is urging caution amid a fierce midfield battle.
Alex Harrington
Published: Mar 27, 2025, 3:29 PM
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James Vowles, Team Principal, Williams Racing
Photo by: Getty Images
After just three races of the 2025 Formula 1 season, one of which was a sprint, Williams has matched the points the team collected in its 2024 campaign. Despite this great news for the Grove outfit, team chief James Vowles is remaining cautious about the team's place on the grid.
So far this season, Williams has scored 17 points over the Australian and Chinese weekends. With new addition Carlos Sainz behind the wheel alongside Alex Albon, the team has already equalled its points haul from 24 races last year. This jump in results has placed Williams fourth in the constructors' standings, sitting ahead of Ferrari on the same points.
2024 saw the team finish ninth in the standings after 17 expensive crashes and several reliability issues, only clearing Sauber who managed to accumulate only four points. An overweight car also forced the team to struggle.
While Sainz is still adjusting to the blue car after moving from the Scuderia at the beginning of the season, Albon has continued to pace well, finishing fifth in Australia and seventh in China, following three disqualifications from Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, and Alpine's Pierre Gasly. Sainz sits on one point after finishing 10th in China.
Williams' Shanghai campaign saw Albon on a one-stop strategy, starting on mediums before moving to hards. This enabled him to briefly lead the race - something a Williams hasn't done since 2015 with Valtteri Bottas behind the wheel.
Despite this impressive performance, Vowles isn't counting his chickens just yet.
"It feels great to have equalled last year's points tally, but actually I have mixed emotions," Vowles said after the Chinese Grand Prix. "First of all it reminded me of how little points we scored in 2024."
Carlos Sainz, Williams
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
The former Mercedes strategist continued:
"It also tells me the following, it's a very close fight right now in the championship. You can see actually on the points table, whilst we've done well Haas have a good number of points, Aston have a good number of points and we've been out-qualified or at least had VCARB near us at both of these events and it's a stark reminder that we need absolutely every millisecond available to us to be competing ahead of that incredibly difficult midfield battle."
He cautioned against reading too much into results.
"We have to recognize the fact that in reality we were ninth last race. Yes, a car was in a good condition and others were thrown out as a result for not being there, but still, we have to, on merit, not be reliant on others being disqualified, be fighting for points."
Vowles is grateful for having "two world-class drivers" in the team to help push them forward, with Sainz – the only current Williams driver who has won a Grand Prix – bringing valuable experience from his successful stint at Ferrari.
"We have a duty and responsibility towards him to make sure we adapt the car as he's becoming more comfortable in our car and our environment.
"I think what's great is the world can see that Alex is absolutely brilliant. Both, though, will be fighting for points very shortly."
With the team admitting they will be "sacrificing" 2025 for the 2026 change of regulations, it's clear they have their priorities set on the future. But if they can leverage the performance they have hinted at so far this season, they could go into next year with a jump in confidence.
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