REPORT: Points in the Season Opener

The 2025 season started in style for Atlassian Williams Racing, with Alex Albon taking the FW47 to P5 after a race of attrition in a soaking Melbourne.

It is our best start to a season for 9 years, and these 10 points from the Australian Grand Prix are the perfect reward for all the hard work at Grove.

Things didn't go all our way, though. Carlos Sainz didn't finish the race after an early incident at Turn 16 that saw him start his Williams career with a DNF.

Carlos was far from the only driver who slipped under the rain, with a total of six cars succumbing to the wet surface and retiring over the race.

The start of 2025 had to wait a little while after Isack Hadjar span on the formation lap, delaying lights out by 15 minutes.

It didn't take long for another car to hit the Melbourne walls, either, with Jack Doohan hitting the barriers on the opening lap to trigger the first of three Safety Cars.

Carlos joined the non-finishing list later that lap, with the car spinning out at the final corner to leave Alex as our sole challenger in the race.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc had passed Albono on Lap 1, and the sister Prancing Horse of Lewis Hamilton kept close to our #23 from that point on.

With Leclerc also passing Yuki Tsunoda, Alex spent his race trying to keep the Racing Bulls driver close and defend from Hamilton — all while seeking out the grip in drying conditions.

Repeated probes from the seven-time champion never materialised into an overtake, and Alex had begun to reel Tsunoda in for P6 just when Fernando Alonso crashed on Lap 34.

The Spaniard's heavy impact triggered a Safety Car to allow Albono and the other remaining drivers a cheap pit stop for dry rubber.

Switching to Mediums while others went to Hards had the FW47 on a contrary strategy, but Alex continued to hold his own to remain in P7 as a storm approached Albert Park.

Diving back into the pit lane to swap back to Inters ahead of the rain worked beautifully, and the Williams strategists had leapfrogged those that stayed out longer on the dry tyres in increasingly wet conditions.

Liam Lawson and Gabriel Bortoleto became the final retirees after two separate incidents, and the Safety Car bunched the pack up once more, with Alex running in P4.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli was now the car behind, and the teenager overtook Albono on the penultimate lap but picked up a five-second penalty for an unsafe release to see Alex in P4 as the flag fell.

A later review from the FIA suspended the five-second penalty, however, and Alex ended his race with a P5 classification, his best Williams result.

"I’m really happy," said Alex after the Australian GP. "It was such a crazy race, I’m still trying to get my head around it!

"It’s fantastic for the team - a P5 is very special and may not come around many times this year.

"Our strategist did an amazing job. Honestly, it was so difficult out there; these conditions are typically what we hate and, despite all of that, we were still one of the strongest midfield runners out there.

"Points like today mean a lot and I’m positive about what’s to come.

"We’re a very bonded team, it was great to have Carlos helping on the pit wall too.

"This is for everyone at Grove, for all their work."

Showing his team spirit, Carlos had this to say after his day was cut short:

"First of all, a massive congratulations to Alex and the team; he did a great job and started off our season on the right foot.

"For me, we’ve looked at the data and could quickly spot what happened, so this leaves me calmer about the situation.

"Without going into details, it’s related to the upshifts when in Safety Car Mode.

"I’m obviously frustrated about it and feel sorry for everyone in the team.

"I spent the rest of the race trying to help on the radio and I’m happy I could at least participate in that way.

"Thankfully China is already next weekend and I can’t wait to jump back in the car."

Team Principal James Vowles was also delighted with the result, and said:

"What an incredible feeling! We reflect on where we were twelve months ago and it’s just a world of difference.

"Well done to Alex – a solid drive from start to finish, defending against really great drivers behind him and didn’t put a foot wrong.

"In the case of Carlos, it was tricky conditions out there, but we can see that as he did an upshift at a difficult time, on a difficult part of the track, the car spun.

"We need to look at that all together as clearly, we could have two cars in the points today.

"I’m unbelievably proud of this team and I can’t wait to get to Shanghai in just a few days.

"I’m looking forward to what we can do across the remainder of the season."