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To sum up the
first half of the Atlassian Williams Racing Teams 2025 Formula 1 season one
would have to say that in the opening fourteen races the team has certainly
seen itself improve to now well and truly part of the midfield fight in the
championship.
The team had suffered a series of seasons that saw them
drop down the order struggling to break into the midfield on any regularity.
But so far in 2025 we have the team sitting fifth in the Constructors’
Championship with 70 points, a major step forward for the team.
The 2025 season would get underway with the launch of the 2025 FW47 at a team
fan event at Silverstone where we would get to see the car run for the first
time. The teams official livery was unveiled at the F1 75 Live event at The
O2 Arena. Over these two events the team would also introduce newly signed
Carlos Sainz, a major coup for the team to obtain his services coming from
Ferrari.
The launch of the season would see the team continue with
sponsors such as Gulf, Komatsu, and MyProtein but the team would also
introduce a number of new sponsors including Santander, Reviva and Betway.
But the biggest announcement was the arrival of the Atlassian company who
would secure naming rights for the team in what was a multi year deal.
For 2025 the team would introduce the FW47 which was very much an
evolution of the FW46 rather than anything fundamentally different. The FW47
would feature a lot of the 2024 FW46 architecture but the team did work
towards refining its aerodynamics, especially around the bargeboards and
diffuser, aimed at improving downforce on the car.
The first serious running of the FW47 was at the 2025 Bahrain pre-season test where we would
see the encouraging sight of Sainz finishing the test with the fastest time,
a great position to be in going into the first race in Australia.
Australia:
Williams Racing started the 2025 Formula 1 season with a very
encouraging performance with Alex Albon putting in a standout drive,
finishing fifth. This was the best season-opening result for the team in
many years. Carlos Sainz, making his debut for the team, retired early after
spinning out at Turn 16.
The race was heavily impacted by rain, with
multiple incidents and three Safety Cars deployed. Alex was able to use a
good strategy call to switch to Intermediate tyres just before a late storm
hit. As a result Alex was able to move into fifth.
China:
China,
the first Sprint event of the 2025 season, would see the Williams team
continue their strong start to the 2025 season with another good set of
results.
The Sprint would see the team start the weekend off with a
points result for a 6th place finish for Alex while Carlos was 9th, just
outside the points.
In the main race Alex Albon was able to finish
7th, holding off Bearman in the closing laps. Carlos Sainz would score his
first points for the team with a good recovering moving from 14th to 10th,
after a difficult qualifying.
Both drivers would benefit from several post-race disqualifications due to technical infringements. Alex and Carlos
crossed the line in 9th and 13th but moved ahead places as a result of the
disqualifications.
Overall China was still a difficult weekend for
Alex and Carlos after far from the best results in qualifying and the Sprint
but overnight changes to the FW47 improved the situation for Sunday's race.
Japan:
Williams would secure another points result in the Japan with
a 9th place finish for Alex. Carlos again had another difficult race stuck
in a DRS train for most of the race only managing 14th, even with a late
change to soft tyres that saw him move up from 17th.
The team would
introduce two performance upgrades for Suzuka, aimed at improving cornering
stability and traction.
Bahrain:
The 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix was a
difficult race with neither Alex or Carlos scoring any points. Alex would
finish 12th after struggling in qualifying managing only 15th. Carlos
qualified an excellent 8th but would suffer an early exit from the race.
The team had come into Bahrain having scored points in previous rounds
and showing strong pace in pre-season testing at the same circuit. But the
race would not go the teams way. Despite this the team would still have
reason to be encouraged with their midfield competitiveness.
Saudi Arabia:
Saudi would see the team again put in a strong performance
scoring a double-points finish, with Carlos 8th and Alex close behind in
9th. Both drivers were able to deliver on a well-executed one-stop strategy.
The closing laps of the race saw Alex gain from using the DRS of Carlos who
was the car in front to assist him in defending from Hadjar, thus maximising
the teams results.
This result would see the team move to be fifth in
the Constructors’ Championship.
Miami:
In what was the second Sprint event of the 2025 season the team was again able to achieve another
series of points scoring results finishing with 12 points across the
weekend. Alex would finish the Sprint in 4th, but a post race penalty would
see him outside the points, while Carlos was just outside the points in 9th.
But in the main race both drivers would score points with Alex 5th
and Carlos 7th, after great drives from both drivers. The results would see
the team beat their entire 2024 points tally in just six races, achieving
back-to-back double points finishes for the first time since 2021.
Imola:
The team would continue their point-scoring results of 2025 by
finishing 5th and 8th in the Emilia-Romagna GP, adding 14 points to their
championship tally.
Both Alex and Carlos would run in the upper
positions during the race and but the pairs strategies would produce very
different results. Carlos pitted early in order to try and undercut the car
in front while Alex went longer on his first stint. Alex was able to use his
track position and a Virtual Safety Car to good effect but Carlos was not
able to gain from his early stop and would find himself down the order at
the finish of the race.
Overall Emilia-Romagna was certainly a race
that saw the FW47 perform well on the Imola track.
Monaco:
The race for the team would be one dominated by a large degree of strategy chaos
coming from the track specific rule dictating more than one pit stop during
the race. We would see teams use one car to deliberately slow down those
cars following to allow the other team car to make a cheap pit stop.
This would see Williams make the decision to employ such a tactic using
Carlos and Alex to slow those cars following which allowed for a easier pit
stop. This would see Alex finish 9th and Carlos 10th adding to their points
tally.
It was very much a race where strategy dominated over pace
during the race but it was one where Williams would achieve their fourth
consecutive race scoring points and their first double-points finish in
Monaco since 2005.
Spain:
Coming into the Spanish GP the team
would admit that they had concerns about how well the FW47 would perform on
the Barcelona circuit, and their concerns proved to be well founded.
Barcelona’s layout with its mix of high-speed corners has historically been
a difficult match for Williams’ car setup. Despite improvements in the FW47,
the team struggled to extract competitive pace.
The race would see
Carlos finish 14th and Alex would retire. For both drivers lap one would see
their races compromised, with both drivers caught in traffic and unable to
recover meaningful positions. Coming off a series of promising results Spain
was a disappointment for the team.
Canada:
The team would suffer another challenging weekend in the 2025 Canadian Grand Prix, which would
only see the team come away with a single point from Carlos finishing 10th.
For Alex his race would see another retirement with engine related issues.
For Carlos his race, after a promising qualifying, would see him
suffer from a lack of performance during the race and was unable to turn his
grid position into a better result. Strategic missteps and changing weather
conditions played a role in hampering his progress.
For Alex to again
suffer from issues was a major disappointing for the team after what had
looked like a competitive weekend.
It was very much the case that
Canada offered the team another good opportunity but unfortunately the
team's execution did not deliver.
Austria:
The Austrian race
did not produce results that the team had hoped for with both Alex and
Carlos failing to finish the race. For Carlos he had the added frustrating
of not even making the start of the race.
For Carlos his race would
end before it began with his car failing to get away from the grid for the
formation lap and despite the fact that he could complete the formation lap
he was forced into the pit lane where he would eventually retire, not making
the start. For Alex even with a good start he would eventually be forced to
retire with a repeat of similar issues seen in Canada.
Another set of
DNF's did little to improve the teams championship prospects.
British:
After a series of disappointing race the British GP would see
the team bounce back with a return to a points result been achieved.
For Alex his race would see him 8th after a strong drive while Carlos would
finish 12th after been involved in a late race incident sustaining damage to
his car and seeing him unable to challenge for points. With the race run
under mixed wet then dry conditions the team was caught up by a strategy
call to switch to intermediates that saw both drivers lose valuable time.
But it was a reversal of the poor results so it was an important
event for the team.
Belgium:
For the team Belgium would see the
return of the Sprint format and across the Sprint and the race the team
would have a mix of good and disappointing results. It showed that the FW47
had potential but the team again suffered from strategic mistakes. The team
had brought an update to the FW47 and over the weekend it was shown to be an
effective addition.
For Carlos his Sprint would see him finish 6th
but in the race he would suffer from setup issues seeing him struggle
combined with a poor pitstop seeing him finish well down the order in 18th.
For Alex he would finish just outside the point in 10th in the Sprint while
in the main race he would again show his talent putting in a great defensive
drive to finish 6th.
Hungary:
Hungary was another weekend that
the team went into with concerns as to how competitive the FW47 would be on
the Hungarian track. After initial signs of encouragement the team would
struggle in qualifying and in the race the tight layout and high
temperatures made overtaking difficult.
Neither Carlos or Alex would
challenge the top ten in the race with the pair finishing 14th and 15th.
Even with the poor performance the team was able to remain 5th in the
Constructors’ standings with 70 points. Alex would be 8th in the Drivers’
standings with 54 points, while Sainz 16th with 16 points.
Alex has
been the team's best performer, converting a tricky race in Australia with
the mixed weather
into a fifth-place haul was a highlight, while for Carlos Sainz his rookie season at
Williams has been mixed. When the car suited him he was able to challenge
for the the top ten. He settled in quickly and his points tally would have
been far better had it not been for some retirements and errors by the team.
Williams Racing 2025 season has certainly seen it return challenging in
the midfield fight, a significant change in fortunes for the team. The race
post F1 break will test whether team can cement its midfield status or even
possibly produce more interesting results, maybe even a surprise podium. |
