Story byMotorsport photoLydia MeeSat, December 13, 2025 at 11:32 AM UTC·3 min readWilliams Racing team principal James Vowles believes Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon's working relationship was as strong from "minute one" as it was at the end of the season and championed the duo for helping the team move up the grid for next year. Sainz joined the Grove outfit in 2025 after being replaced at Ferrari by seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton. In his first season with Williams, the Spanish driver secured two podium finishes in Azerbaijan and Qatar, which were also the first podiums under Vowles's leadership. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAlbon has been with Williams since 2022 and has driven alongside the likes of Nicholas Latifi, Logan Sargeant and Franco Colapinto."From the very, very first test that we did in Bahrain together, all the way through Melbourne where we see Carlos wasn't in the car but able to help the team, all the way through other races where the two of them were working together very freely in terms of debrief data set-up direction, it's been a relationship that actually from minute one was as strong as it was at the end of the season," the team chief said during The Vowles Verdict."And sometimes that can change team on team subject to the pressures the drivers are feeling, the team is feeling. That didn't change anything here at all.