James Vowles names the qualities that make Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz stand out at Williams

Williams team principal James Vowles has revealed why he rates his driver line-up of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz so highly.

Albon joined Williams in 2022, and Sainz signed with the Grove outfit for 2025 after being replaced at Ferrari by seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton. 

During an interview with Frankie Langan, Vowles praised the two drivers' lack of ego and drive to put the goals of the team first. 

"Two brilliant drivers. I'm really, really fortunate and brilliant from this perspective. No politics, no ego. They deserve to have an ego, but they don't," the Briton explained.

"They really give everything, and they want Williams to be successful as I do as well. And so their commitment is more than just driving the car. It goes from truly beyond that."

After discussing other drivers who he has worked with, such as Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg at Mercedes, Vowles added: "In terms of Carlos, his communication with engineers is the best that I've worked with. He has this ability to really bring into what he's feeling when he's in the car and link it to the data at the same time.

"In terms of Alex, he has this natural ability to, especially in changing conditions, which is what you saw in Melbourne and a few others, you just get the most out of him and the most out of others as well. They all have different skill sets.

Carlos Sainz, Williams, Alex Albon, Williams, Drive to Survive Season 8

Photo by: Netflix

"What I would say with Carlos and Alex is above that, they don't have any baggage. What they want is the team to be strong. And what they do as a result of that is whether they've had a bad day or not, the best example I can give you is Alex was there by my side at the podium when Carlos was there. 

"I don't know any other driver on the grid that would do that, but he's centred around Williams, and he doesn't bring baggage from his bad day. And for clarity, he was ill that weekend and still gave everything he possibly could to it."

Vowles joined Williams as team principal in 2023 and is working on bringing the historic team back to its championship-winning form. While this is going to be a long process, Williams has had a rough start to the 2026 season and currently sits ninth in the constructors' standings.