Williams enjoyed its best years in Formula 1 during the 1990s, winning five Constructors' Championships and becoming a major force in the sport. Now, the team is in a very different position, sitting ninth in the standings with only 16 points and celebrating occasional point finishes as victories.

For the 2025 season, Williams has signed Carlos Sainz, who is currently doing well at Ferrari but faced some bad luck when the team opted to sign Lewis Hamilton, and no other top teams showed interest in the Spanish driver.

Starting in 2026, F1 cars will be revamped with smaller dimensions, lighter weights, simplified aerodynamics, and reduced downforce and drag.

As a result, some teams may be tempted to shift their focus away from the 2025 season and concentrate on a fresh start in 2026, which appears to be the case for Williams.

According to the team principal, James Vowles, the team is willing to sacrifice the upcoming season in order to improve their position in 2026.

“It’s the message that Alex and Carlos both know: 2025 will be a struggle, I think,” Vowles told Motorsport.com. 

“It’s not that you’re going to see us moving forward, we’re going to move back a little bit.

“And if we are, I’m okay with that, because it simply says that I’m investing at the right rate for ‘26 compared to those around me. That’s what we should be expecting from it: we are going to compromise ’25.

“That doesn’t mean we’ll be tenth, but it’s going to be a hard year."

Vowles now supports trying different things over the next year, believing this is the best way to learn during the upcoming 2026 technical changes.

“We are trying to do leaps – not steps forward, not inching forward, not minimal gains, or marginal gains even, but leaps in the technology and what we’re doing,” he explained.

“And in doing so, we’re going to trip ourselves up. And I’m comfortable with that, because we can’t unlearn what we’ve learned.

“I give you almost a guarantee: unfortunately, we’re going to trip ourselves again. I don’t think it’d be in ‘25, for what it’s worth. I think we’ve got enough of a good pathway to lead us there.

“I think in ’26, what we’re asking of the organisation is more than we can deliver. So we’ve got to make it fit or perhaps trip up a little bit along the way,” Vowles concluded.