Vowles: Williams' development will accelerate year after year.

      The Williams team brought the FW47 to Austin in a special livery styled after the British team's cars from the early 2000s.

      The official press release said that when developing this design Williams looked to the 2002 car for inspiration; however, in James Vowles's view, the FW47s of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz are actually more like the FW23 that Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya raced in 2001.

      "We are still proud to have won nine Constructors' Championships, and our drivers have been world champions seven times," the Williams team principal said at a meeting with fans in Austin. "We must remember our team's history, and I assure you that the Williams cars of the early 2000s looked magnificent, so now we have decided to pay tribute to that era.

      This year we have already scored more points than the team earned in the previous six years combined, and I want to say that behind the scenes a process of major change is continuing, so I am encouraged not only by what we will achieve in 2025 but also by what awaits us in the future.

      And if I had to name one moment I am most proud of, it would probably be our podium in Baku. The team truly earned it; it wasn't some kind of gift and it wasn't the result of the safety car coming out at a fortuitous moment for us. And I'm proud of that.

      We have invested very large sums in modernizing the team's infrastructure and in new technologies, and you have to understand that these solutions cannot simply be bought off the shelf — they must be specially developed and adapted to our specific needs.

      The changes are very extensive: roughly half of what we have planned will come into operation at the end of this year, and we will get the second half in 2026. Right now we are fifth in the Constructors' Championship precisely because we laid the right foundations and solved the basic problems. And now I am excited by the prospects opening up for Williams, because the team's development will accelerate year by year.

      We are not here to build and sell cars, not to sell soft drinks — we are a racing team. (Applause and cheers from the crowd) However, I have nothing against soft drinks — I just don't sell them!

      I work at Williams to take part in races, win them, fight for the championship — that is the main thing."

      When James was asked to describe his team at its current stage of development in three words, he paused for a couple of seconds and said, "A bright future ahead!"