Williams Team Principal James Vowles says there is “zero doubt” in his mind that Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon are the pairing he wants in his cars for the foreseeable future.
Vowles fended off Sauber/Audi and Alpine to secure Sainz’s services for last season on a multi-year deal after the Spaniard lost his Ferrari seat to Lewis Hamilton, while Alex Albon – who joined Williams in 2022 – signed a multi-year contract extension with the British team back in 2024.
Williams enjoyed a better-than-expected season in 2025, with Albon scoring consistently in the first two-thirds of the season and Sainz taking two unexpected podiums in the final third of the campaign to help the team finish top of the midfield in P5 in the Teams’ Championship.
It made Sainz’s decision to choose Williams – and Albon’s call to stick with the team that has helped him rebuild his reputation after a tough exit from Red Bull – look like a wise call, especially as they hoped to take a big step with the 2026 cars, built to sweeping new regulations.
However, this year started badly thanks to delays in production over the winter putting the team on the backfoot and, while they have rallied to score points on four occasions to sit eighth in the standings, they are still well short of where they wanted to be at this point in the season.
While that lack of form could lead to Sainz and Albon considering their options elsewhere, Vowles is hopeful they will stay for years to come as Williams target fighting for championships by 2030.
“[There is] zero doubt in my mind that this is the pairing that I want,” Vowles told me. “They are aware of it. You will always get silly season but it’s in our hands both today and in the next five years to demonstrate we have ability to put performance on the car that outstrips other teams and therefore earn their right to be here.”
Among Sainz and Albon’s strengths is their ability to galvanise a team in good times and bad and deliver when it counts – these traits have made them a very valuable asset for Williams this year as they look to fight back and continue their journey to morph the team (who last won a world title in 1997) back into championship contenders.
“They are both hugely impressive because it was a tough winter,” says Vowles. “I called them pretty much daily on here’s where we are and here’s what’s changing. As it changed around us, I wanted to make sure they had awareness on it.
“So, it was bad news stories that kept coming for weeks but my ask to them was: ‘You are a leader of this organisation as I am, so make sure we pull together and directionally pull the team forward’.
“They were there by our sides all the way through and that’s really important to me. They were asking the right questions and asking me: ‘What else can I do?’ That’s a sign of the characters they are and the strength as they are as individuals.
“What I enjoy about them is that every time we have had points to pick up – Miami or even before that Shanghai – they are there and ready to do it.”
Though Williams have dropped back this year and now face a fight to return to the front of the midfield before the end of the season, Vowles does not believe the painful winter will hurt their plan to make a big step for 2028 ahead of fighting for titles by 2030.
“It doesn’t have an impact on what we are doing,” he says. “What we have always said is ’28 is one of our big milestones, 2030 the second of those two milestones – and championships towards 2030. It doesn’t change that direction of travel.
“It’s frustrating. I have discovered more issues that I would have liked. They are all fixable. It’s a blip in the road. If you ignore it, you’re in trouble. But if you use the fact of understanding of what went wrong and go back to the root cause of it, it’s one of the most powerful things that can happen to you.”
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