Williams team principal James Vowles is adamant that the British Formula 1 team will be able to keep hold of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz for next season, and would be transparent if they wanted to leave.
The Grove squad made significant progress with its car last season and moved up to fifth in the constructors’ championship, but 2026 has so far failed to deliver on its aspirations; this year’s FW48 is overweight and lacking downforce.
Vowles says that the team is addressing those issues, with weight-saving gains expected to appear at each of the next races until the car hits the weight limit. Points finishes in Miami, Montreal and Monaco also demonstrated that the car has potential.
Although the current results might cause a driver’s faith to waver, and it has been suggested that Sainz may yet play a role in the 2027 driver market, Vowles believes that both drivers have bought into the project and that they “want their future” to be at Williams.
“The great thing with both is they have the same values I do, which is honesty, transparency,” Vowles stated. “So we have honest conversations, all the way from October last year when I started to see problems, to January till March – and then here’s what we’re doing to fix this in this year.
“What it’s meant for Carlos and Alex is that they can see that what you see with me is what you get. I will tell you the bad bits, but I’ll tell you the good bits as well. And there’s some good bits that are still there. The development rates we’re hitting now and what we’re bringing to the track, the rate we can bring it to the track.
“Because we have the same values in that honesty and transparency, it means that if they are considering anything else, they come to me and talk to me about it.
“At the moment, Carlos and Alex want their future to be here. They’ve said that to me, but they’ve said that to you publicly as well at the same time.”
Alexander Albon, Williams, Carlos Sainz, Williams
Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
Vowles added that the drivers would be “foolish” not to consider their options at a top team, but explained that Williams was doing its best to show both drivers a tangible improvement in performance.
He added that he wanted both drivers to feel that it was “their team” – something of a far cry from the Williams of old when the drivers were considered secondary to the in-house technical development.
“This is still the point in the market where all the teams, if a position came up in Mercedes tomorrow, they would be foolish not to consider what their options are,” he continued.
“But where they’re committed to at the moment is Williams and our future because they like what we are doing to invest in our future and our direction. We have not done service to their performance. We have got it wrong this winter.
“My job is to show them how we’re going to correct it and fast, and provide them an environment where they can start to fight for podiums again and more in the future, like we did last year.
“I’m not worried. Only because, for two reasons. I think the winning teams, there’s not many now that are winning teams, one or two. They have their established workforce and they’re not looking to change that anytime soon.
“But also, Alex and Carlos have already invested a lot of their time to make this into a team that they want it to be. It’s their team and that’s not something you can get anywhere else on the grid.
“And I will continue to make it their team so that they are leaders within it. And that is quite unique.”
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