Vowles Hails Team and Drivers After ‘Emotional’ P5 Result in Melbourne

James Vowles has hailed Atlassian Williams Racing’s ‘world-class’ driver pairing after Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz combined to deliver a memorable fifth-place finish in Australia – and how seeing the team celebrate left him ‘emotional’.

Sharing his exclusive reflections on the Melbourne weekend in the newest episode of The Vowles Verdict, the Team Principal spoke about witnessing the new driver line-up in action for the first time during a race weekend and the benefits they bring.

“Both of our drivers are world-class material, and it makes a huge difference to us as a team,” he said.

“We have two drivers that are matched in terms of their capability, their performance, and their ability to perform under pressure.

“And when you have that as human beings, it's the best thing that can ever happen because you get pushed into an area you never thought was possible, and you learn from others around you.”

Answering questions from fans – which you can submit for the next episode by replying to us on X – James laid out how much it meant to him to see the immense teamwork both trackside and at Grove HQ, delivering the best result of his time as Team Principal.

“It really meant a lot to me emotionally. For the team to celebrate a fifth place, the first time since I've been in the team we've been able to celebrate that [position] together.

“And a fifth place, not because everyone else fell off or because circumstances turned our way. We were realistically fighting for that seventh up to fifth throughout the race. It's just brilliant, it's absolutely fantastic.”

After Carlos played race strategist following his spin to help Alex succeed in tricky wet conditions, James praised his team efforts and said: “Whilst we are all disappointed Carlos' race ended early, what I can say is that all of the garage pulled together to achieve the result.”

And he predicted that this would not be the end of positive results, saying: “We will come back even stronger in Shanghai and Japan. We have a strong package, and it should translate across these forthcoming races.”

James also revealed more about how the team utilises the vast amounts of data that is collected during sessions, as well as explaining the issue that caused Carlos to spin under Safety Car conditions – and what the team is doing to fix it.