"I don't want to keep saying that we're sacrificing this year for next year. But this year is definitely a time to do that."
This line pretty much sums up Alex Albon's thinking on Williams' upcoming campaign, highlighting the team's laser focus on catching the right wave in 2026 when F1 introduces all-new cars.
But that doesn't mean Williams is just throwing in the towel this year. Performance in F1 is not a light switch you can flick on but the result of a long process of installing the right people to build a winning culture and the right tools to execute that vision. The team that is supposed to reap the rewards in the future from a large-scale rebuild is largely the same team that runs the Grove factory today, with team boss James Vowles revealing the team's staff has swelled to over a thousand people already.
A lot of the pieces those people are helping Williams build should already be coming together this year, whether it's better ideas, tools or methodologies. Some of those are already in place, as evidenced by the contrast between Williams' launch last week and its dire situation 12 months ago, when its 2024 car came together late and severely overweight.
"The car will be on the weight limit and on time," Vowles said. "We demonstrated to the world that we can build a car to the correct standard and make it leave the garage within one minute. So that's two very different changes from where we are last year. The quality of the fit, the quality of the build, the quality of the product is a huge step upwards. The packaging is another step upwards. And we haven't even got into aerodynamics and suspension and performance yet.
"Every area I look at on the car is just a world of difference for me from where we were before. We're not finished on our journey, and I'm not here standing on our soapbox saying that we're a benchmark, but we're on the right pathway to getting back there."
Despite all those tangible gains, Williams won't be sure if it has outdeveloped its direct rivals until the end of the Bahrain test, and arguably even until Melbourne qualifying. Albon would like to aim for the "top half of the midfield", but says his evaluation of whether Williams is on the right track is still more based on the momentum of change he can see behind the scenes than the timesheets.
"I would like to see us making a step from last year for sure, just in terms of quantifying that it's a little bit difficult to say," he added. "I'd like to be fighting up at the top half of that midfield fight. We'll see how big of a midfield fight there is this year. I think it's going to be closer even to the top teams.
"But it's not so much result-based as you would expect. I think that last year, if you just look at where we were in terms of timing and being late and being overweight, these kinds of areas were fundamental to be fixed for this year and we've already started in a much better position. There are loads of other examples, but they're the kind of things that I want to see improved for this year, because I think it's what's going to create the foundation for a better 2026."
Some of the changes Albon is hinting at are related to the hiring spree Williams has embarked on, but also to the infrastructure projects the squad has commissioned. The days of keeping track of car parts via a Microsoft Excel sheet are now also a blush-inducing relic of the past. This is all part of the process that Vowles embarked on when he was hired by team owner Dorilton Capital in January 2023, the last phase of which won't be completed until 2027 at the very earliest.
"Everyone is aligned that we want to be winning world championships. What I can demonstrate is very clear progress that's taking place in infrastructure, culture, technology that's kicking in, we're moving into a new building," he explained. "This year we're bringing in what I think will be a benchmark driver-in-the-loop simulator. We're bringing in tools and technologies coming this year. That was started in 2023, so if you put your focus on the following year, you'll miss out about long-term evolution.
"There are bits we're doing today that won't come online until 2027. That's unfortunate, but that's part of a longer journey. The fact that we've gone from 700 people to over 1,000 individuals means that you'll have some low-hanging fruit, just producing a better car – having more performance being added to it. But I consider that secondary to the long-term investment to get us where we need to be."
Vowles rejects any comparisons with Sauber, where many felt an overwhelming focus on 2026 hurt the current team's performance last year and, with it, dented its morale.
"I ask you a question back. Do you think that happened in one year, or do you think that was multiple years? That's the point, it took multiple years for that to happen, so it takes multiple years to build back," he said.
Vowles says the team, which first put the 2025 car in the wind tunnel back in March last year, already has a firm end date for the in-season development of its car in mind, although he stopped short of disclosing when Williams would fully shift to the 2026 project.
"Not at the moment," he said. "Mainly because I want to see how we get out the gate, but the bias is very much towards 2026. 2 January was the first legal date our 2026 car was in the wind tunnel and it hasn’t exited since then. We front-loaded the development on the 2025 as much as possible to then front-load the 2026 car.
"The only thing that's going to make a difference is obviously when we turn a wheel in Australia. But even then, I don't think our pathway will change where we are."
Nevertheless, with a second experienced driver alongside Albon in Sainz – a proven race winner too – Williams has vastly upgraded its driver line-up, as well as any other changes that will already have an impact this year.
With its well-documented weight issues Williams took a long time to get off the mark last year and could only manage ninth in the standings. Regardless of its 2026 focus – which will be shared by a lot of its rivals – 2025 should present a step up by all metrics if it aims to keep up the momentum created by the buzz around its launch.
