James Vowles hails "dream come true" as Williams secures P5 in constructors' championship

James Vowles hailed Williams' rise to fifth in the 2025 constructors' championship as a "dream come true" after Carlos Sainz's Qatar Grand Prix podium

Williams team principal James Vowles described the team's fifth place in the 2025 constructors' championship as a "dream come true".

Carlos Sainz secured his second podium of the season with a third-place finish at the Qatar Grand Prix, bringing home 15 points for the team, securing fifth in the constructors' championship ahead of the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Reflecting on the race and season, Vowles noted the jump in performance the team has experienced since its ninth-place finish in 2024 with just 17 points. In contrast, the Grove outfit has scored 137 points so far this year with Sainz and Alex Albon.

"Exceptional. Really fantastic performance from Carlos and the team when it counted and every detail adds up," Vowles said. "Getting on the podium by milliseconds really is such a just reward for the incredible work the whole team is putting in this year.

"I was proud of Carlos and the team when we got our first podium in Baku; the second is a dream come true, but perhaps more importantly at a track that was almost our worst last year. And we've come back, we've reinvented ourselves and the result is there for everyone to see.

"For Alex, we will come back fighting in Abu Dhabi. We haven't got it all together this weekend, but I'll reiterate that his performance across the season is why we've secured fifth in the constructors' championship today. And more so than that, his pace is still there. We just need to bring it all together.

"Finally, fifth would have been a dream come true just 12 months ago when we were languishing in ninth in the constructors' championship. Thank you very much."

James Vowles, Team Principal of Williams, Carlos Sainz, Williams FW47, Alex Albon, Williams FW47

Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images

Albon, who just missed out on a points-paying finish with 11th place in Qatar, congratulated Sainz and the team.

"Starting on the hards today, we were planning on trying to benefit from some clean air with those tyres, but the safety car happened early on and we had to pivot strategies. Having started on the hards, we were out of position and had to finish the race on mediums which wasn’t ideal for our strategy.

"We maybe didn’t have the pace to get through all the cars in front, but I think we left something on the table as we had a good car today, as Carlos demonstrated as well.

"The team secured P5 in the constructors’ championship which is massive - a big, huge well done to everyone on the team as this was a big step forward for us this year and something that we should all be proud of."