REPORT: P5 Secured With a Podium

Atlassian Williams Racing have locked in P5 in the 2025 World Constructors' Championship to record the team's best finish since 2016 after scoring a second podium of the season in Qatar.

An unforgettable day saw Carlos Sainz crossing the line in P3 after a P7 start, with Alex Albon narrowly missing out on points in P11.

It's the culmination of a super weekend at the Lusail International Circuit, with a point in Saturday's Sprint Race, a double FW47 showing in SQ3, P7 in Qualifying, and our Academy driver Victor Martins winning the Formula 2 Feature Race.

Pirelli's mandate to run a tyre set for a maximum of 25 laps always meant the 2025 Qatar Grand Prix would be unique. The strategists split Carlos and Alex's tyres, with car No.55 equipped with Mediums and No.23 being just one of only two using Hards.

Carlos executed a strong start from P7, pushing past Isack Hadjar off the line and clearing an oversteering George Russell at Turn 2 to grab P5.

The right-hand side of the grid didn't provide too much grip, hindering Alex, who dropped to P17 and into a long-lasting midfield DRS train.

With Carlos keeping close to Andrea Kimi Antonelli's fourth place and Alex chasing Yuki Tsunoda, an opportunity for advancement came with a Safety Car appearance.

Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly had tangled, jumping Albono up two positions, and Carlos benefitted from the collision in the pit lane, leapfrogging Antonelli thanks to the quick work of our crew, and a slow getaway for Mercedes.

With racing resumed and both Williams machines now on Mediums, we sat in P4 and P13, but with the leading McLaren drivers still to stop.

Qatar's reputation for being a tough-to-pass track won't be in doubt after this year's race, and our duo held position until the next round of pit stops.

With the McLarens out of sequence and missing out on the earlier 'cheap' Safety Car stop, though, Lando Norris fell behind Antonelli after his second trip to the pits. This put Carlos on course for his podium, should the championship leader stay behind the flying FW47, of course.

Alex cycled up to P12 as others ran slightly different strategies, and he was unfortunate not to end up scoring a point after a late-race puncture for Hadjar handed a position to all the drivers behind.

Carlos' final laps were tense behind the wheel. Radio messages discussing struggles in the right-hand corners came over the airwaves, and a mistake from Antonelli allowed the faster Norris to be right on the Williams rear wing for the last lap.

He held firm, however, and crossed the line in P3 to jubilation in the garage.

Speaking after the race, Carlos shared his thoughts by saying, "Extremely happy!

"We had a very strong start and from there we executed a perfect race with strategy, tyre management, pit stops and communication.

"By the end of the second stint, I saw Piastri struggled to overtake me on fresh tyres, and at that moment I realised we had to go for the podium.

"I was pushing to the limit of the car but 6 laps to the end something suddenly broke!

"I started losing a lot of lap time in sectors 1 and 3 but I managed to keep it together and bring it home for P3!

"Today’s result is testament to the team’s hard work; I knew we were taking the right steps and, despite some difficult race weekends along the way, I had full confidence in what we are doing.

"I’m extremely proud of everyone, we deserve this P5 in the Constructor’s Championship, and I look forward to finishing the season on another high in Abu Dhabi! Let’s go!"

Alex explained the strategic plan behind his race:

"Starting on the hards today, we were planning on trying to benefit from some clean air with those tyres, but the safety car happened early on and we had to pivot strategies.

"Having started on the hards we were out of position and had to finish the race on mediums which wasn’t ideal for our strategy.

"We maybe didn’t have the pace to get through all the cars in front, but I think we left something on the table as we had a good car today, as Carlos demonstrated as well.

"The team secured P5 in the Constructors’ Championship which is massive - a big, huge well done to everyone on the team as this was a big step forward for us this year and something that we should all be proud of."

Atlassian Williams Racing's Team Principal James Vowles was delighted with the team taking another podium and P5 in the World Constructors' Championship:

"Exceptional. Really fantastic performance from Carlos and the team when it counted and every detail adds up.

"Getting on the podium by milliseconds really is such a just reward for the incredible work the whole team is putting in this year.

"I was proud of Carlos and the team when we got our first podium in Baku; the second is a dream come true, but perhaps more importantly at a track that was almost our worst last year.

"And we've come back, we've reinvented ourselves and the result is there for everyone to see.

"For Alex, we will come back fighting in Abu Dhabi. We haven't got it all together this weekend, but I'll reiterate that his performance across the season is why we've secured fifth in the constructors' championship today.

"And more so than that, his pace is still there. We just need to bring it all together.

"Finally, fifth would have been a dream come true just 12 months ago when we were languishing in ninth in the Constructors' Championship.

"Thank you very much."