James Vowles doesn’t do sugarcoating. Even with a fresh piece of silverware on the shelf after Carlos Sainz’s Baku podium, the Williams team principal is keeping the lights on and the hype in check as Formula 1 heads to Singapore.
Baku wasn’t a fluke. On a stop-start, red-flag-riddled Saturday, Sainz threaded the needle to stick the FW47 on provisional pole at one point, one of only a handful to log a representative lap in the chaos. Come Sunday, he turned that sharp one-lap form into a measured, relentless drive to third, only ceding ground to Max Verstappen at the front. Williams hadn’t stood on a full-distance grand prix podium since Lance Stroll’s Baku breakout in 2017. That drought ended the hard way — earned, not donated.
Vowles was quick to underline that point. The car had pace, he argued, and the team executed. No fortune cookies required. For a squad that’s spent years clawing back from the basement, that matters almost as much as the trophy. The other crucial piece? What it does for Sainz himself.
This has been a year of recalibration for the Spaniard after trading Ferrari red for Williams blue. The speed’s been evident in flashes, the results often diluted by messy weekends or cruel timing. In Azerbaijan, the clean weekend finally arrived. And with it, the version of Sainz that’s capable of bossing a race when given half a window.
So, momentum in hand, is Singapore the next stop on the fairytale? Vowles isn’t buying that storyline. He’s been candid all year that Marina Bay’s low-speed puzzle tends to expose Williams’ weaknesses more than its strengths. The circuit rewards traction, ride quality and relentless grip at the slowest corners — an ask that’s typically stretched Grove’s package thin. If Baku’s fast, flowing sections let the FW47 breathe, Singapore’s stop-and-go rhythm might leave it wheezing.
That doesn’t mean the team’s bracing for a write-off. Williams has made a habit of nicking points this season on days when the car wasn’t an obvious top-10 threat, and Vowles believes that trend can continue if execution stays sharp. But he’s already looking beyond the floodlights. After Singapore, the calendar swings to the Americas and beyond: Circuit of the Americas, Mexico City, Interlagos, then the Las Vegas–Qatar–Abu Dhabi run to the flag. On paper, several of those weekends should suit Williams more naturally than Marina Bay.
Between the lines, you can hear what this podium did for the place. Vowles talked about carrying the trophy through the factory doors and letting the noise wash over the workforce. It’s a small ritual that makes a big statement: Williams is back to earning days like this, not wishing for them. That’s the culture shift he’s been banging on about since the moment he walked in.
And Sainz? Expect a bit more steel in the eyes. He’s always been methodical — the driver who builds a weekend brick by brick — and Baku gives him something solid to stand on. The bounce in his step Vowles mentioned isn’t fluff. It’s the difference between hoping for a result and hunting one.
Singapore will test that. It usually does. But even if Sunday night in Marina Bay turns into a grind, Williams now has proof of concept for 2025: when the stars align, its car can live at the sharp end and its new talisman can convert. That changes the way you approach risk, strategy and setup calls. It changes what you dare to try.
So file Baku as a milestone, not a miracle. The work doesn’t get easier from here — it rarely does in this sport — but Williams has given itself something priceless as the season hits the final stretch: the sense that it’s part of the fight again. And Sainz, finally, has the kind of weekend he can build a run on.
Singapore might not be the stage for a sequel. The rest of the tour just might be.
