Formula 1 team making an ill-advised sacrifice heading into 2025

The regulation changes coming to Formula 1 in 2026 are slated to be the largest since those introduced in 2014, when the turbo hybrid era began. As such, teams have a lot more development work to do than usual, and they understand the stakes involved when it comes to getting a concept right or wrong.

All teams know that this could be the chance for a clean slate in terms of reshuffling the hierarchy of the sport. However, the 2025 season is still to come, and no teams want to sacrifice their chances of success – that is, except for Williams, based on a recent admission from team principal James Vowles.

After a long saga surrounding Logan Sargeant dating back to last season, the signing of Carlos Sainz Jr. to a multi-year deal shocked the Formula 1 world. With that being said, Williams now have one of the strongest driver lineups on the grid heading into the 2025 season.

Despite having such a luxury, Vowles has already informed his team that results may not come next season, but rather in 2026.

Considering the fact that Williams have been towards the back of the grid for nearly a decade now, not much is expected from them in 2025 anyway. However, they are looking to shoot up the grid and turn into one of the top teams in 2026, given the progress of the Mercedes engine and their supposed understanding of the regulations for design purposes.

But sacrificing 2025 could easily backfire for the Grove-based team.

Each year, teams are awarded prize money based on their performance during the season. So the constructor champions are awarded the most, believed to be almost $140 million in 2023. On the flip side, the last place team receive less than half of that total at approximately $60 million.

With Williams willing to sacrifice performance in 2025, they are also sacrificing potential prize money. As Vowles stated, the team are not looking to take little steps forward; they want to make a massive leap in 2026.

However, there is one major issue with that: money. Making massive developments and overall improvements requires funding, and a lot of that comes from prize money.

With several aggressive upgrade packages expected from Williams, there is no guarantee that all of them will work, and maintaining good financial health is what will let the team potentially see an upgrade failure and still stay competitive.

Considering the fact that development for the team’s 2025 car has been underway for quite some time now, either Vowles planned to cede next season all along or is still keeping the door open to at least develop the FW47 as normal.