Williams boss James Vowles admits the team’s disastrous 2026 campaign made him worry about losing both Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon, before the pair re-signed for next year.
Williams received a shot in the arm earlier this week when both drivers pledged their future to the struggling outfit. Albon took up an extension for the 2027 season, while Sainz signed what was billed a “multi-year” contract extension to keep both drivers at Grove.
With the team languishing towards the back of the grid after a disastrous 2026 car project that exposed the team’s procedural deficiencies, having both of its drivers commit their medium-term future to Williams was a much-needed boost for the team’s staff. Not in the least for team principal Vowles, who had dug deep to convince Sainz to join his project in the first place in 2025, with the four-time grand prix winner becoming a cornerstone of his rebuild alongside long-time driver Albon.
But Williams’ 2026 blip has been so severe that Vowles had genuine fears he could lose both drivers before reaping the rewards of his labour.
“[I was] concerned about losing both, because they are world championship material drivers that deserve the opportunity to be fighting for podiums or more,” Vowles admitted in Zandvoort.
“We haven’t delivered that. And more than that, we had a scope of where we were moving to. I hope there’s no doubt in the outside world that over the last few years we’ve been slowly stepping forward with last year being a blip – I think too positive for where we were – but a step in the right direction.
“So, for us to move backwards isn’t just a surprise to the drivers, it’s a surprise to everyone. And that will always create risk that we lose them.
“What I’m thankful for is the moment we had problems, they stood by our side. It wasn’t finger pointing, it was actually ‘tell me what I can do’. And they both came into the factory, spoke to the whole organisation and gave them a lift. Carlos did the same and Alex did the same this week once they re-signed.”
Carlos Sainz, Williams
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
With Max Verstappen renewing his Red Bull deal and other top teams hanging on to their driver line-ups, any scope for either Sainz or Albon to make anything but a sideways move was limited. But Vowles was adamant that both drivers fully bought into the long-term project he has embarked on at what had long been an underfunded team.
“They want this to be a part of them that is here on a turnaround of this organisation. And I’m thankful for that. But it’s also an indication of what we’ve shown them in the back end of what’s happened and what we’re doing about it.
“If they are re-signing, it will give you an indication that there’s a lot of change ongoing, that they believe in what the future looks like. And that belief is incredibly important, whether it’s for team members or for anyone in the outside world.
“That consistency is important because the team is really maturing and changing. And as much as you can keep consistent, especially in your driver line-up, it becomes desperately important in order to keep building on that.”
Vowles said there was a “weight lifted” off the team’s factory staff as news of the double renewal was communicated. But while it provided a welcome morale boost for a team that hasn’t been anywhere near the points for months, that doesn’t detract from the mountain of work that still lies ahead.
Williams effectively had to throw out a lot of its antiquated systems and procedures to become a modern frontline F1 operation. Former McLaren man Piers Thynne was one of several key hires made, alongside some of Vowles’ former Mercedes staffers, to oversee that transition.
Williams last celebrated a podium with Carlos Sainz at the 2025 Qatar Grand Prix.
Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images
While hoping to show consistent progress, starting with a major car upgrade at next month’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Vowles made it crystal clear that transformation won’t be completed any time soon. “We’re not going to fix Williams in 12 months. It’s not going to happen. We’re not going to dig out every single problem that’s happened in one year.
“We will, however, make sure that every decision we’re doing is the right one for our long-term success,” Vowles added.
“What we demonstrated to Carlos is everything that happened this winter, everything that we are doing right now to fix it, the corner that we’ve turned as a result of it and what the future looks like.
“And there’s zero doubt about it. We are way off where we wanted to be. We have a car that was overweight, late and not to the performance specification that we wanted it to be. So those are just facts. What Carlos wanted to see, and Alex for that matter as well, is the changes that we are making that show us that there’s the right trajectory.
“It’s a combination of people, processes, systems, structures. It’s not one thing. And it shows them that we are on the right path.”
