As it stands, Williams are comfortably 5th in the constructors standings. The British team have generally been the ‘best of the rest’ in 2025, with the FW47 proving a competitive machine.

Despite the volume of crashes and incidents they suffered 2024, the Grove-based squad managed to address many of last year’s shortcomings.

Team principal James Vowles made a point to switch Williams’ focus to this season relatively early last season – so that his personnel could focus entirely on the 2026 regulations.

Until the Imola GP, Williams enjoyed a significant buffer over other teams in the midfield.

In recent months, however, Vowles’ personnel have seen their advantage steadily eroded.

Williams losing out in the development race

As previously outlined, Williams abandoned 2024 development relatively early to focus on this year’s package.

This decision put them in a very strong position in the opening rounds, with Alex Albon in particular achieving big points hauls.

Even Carlos Sainz, who has vocalised his struggles in adapting to the FW47, has regularly fought in the top 10.

Misfortune has also negatively impacted the Spaniard, with floor damage in Miami preventing him from finishing ahead of the Ferrari duo.

Despite this, the British team can generally be satisfied with their performance so far in 2025.

Unfortunately for James Vowles, this could change over the coming months. In fact, the Grove outfit’s advantage is largely eliminated already.

Unlike Williams, others in the midfield have introduced substantial upgrade packages since the European leg of the calendar.

Aston Martin, for example, have been far more competitive since their Imola updates.

Poor strategy and reliability failures prevented Fernando Alonso from securing big points in Imola and Monaco – but cleaner weekends in Spain and Canada saw the Double Champion secure solid results.

Haas and VCARB can also be credited with impressive mid-season updates. Haas’ transformation into a team with an effective development programme is particularly notable.

Even Sauber, at least in the hands of Nico Hulkenberg, are capable of fighting for points.

Like Aston Martin, the Swiss team have more updates scheduled for the coming weeks.

The Canadian GP was of unique significance for Williams, given it is a circuit well-suited the FW47.

For James Vowles’ team to be relatively average at a track like Canada does not bode well for the remainder of 2025.

Focus remains on 2026

To some extent, it is obviously frustrating for Williams to see other teams catch up in the midfield.

It is also plausible that, as mentioned above, the likes of Aston Martin progress further.

This could further complicate their efforts to retain 5th place in the constructors – which would be their best result in F1 since 2017.

At the same time, James Vowles has clearly articulated what the priorities at Williams are.

The former Mercedes engineer wants to lead Williams into Championship contention – with the 2026 regulations being the best opportunity to rapidly progress.

Because of this, the team’s entire development approach has been centred on next year.

Inevitably, this mean’s the FW47 is unlikely to see any major improvements. This could certainly pay off when the lights go out in Australia next year.

Until then, however, Williams will be in an increasingly demanding midfield scrap.

Main photo: Williams Media Gallery

LONG POND, Pa. (AP) — Chase Briscoe got the cold facts when the third-generation driver’s career took an unexpected turn, leaving his lame-duck NASCAR team for the sport’s most coveted available seat with powerhouse Joe Gibbs Racing.

The message was clear at JGR — home of five Cup driver titles and a perennial contender to win another one.

“You don’t make the playoffs,” Briscoe said, “you don’t race in this car anymore.”

The Toyotas were better at JGR, sure. So were the championship standards set by Joe Gibbs and the rest of the organization.

“It’s been a lot of work,” Briscoe’s crew chief James Small said. “From where he came from, there wasn’t much accountability. Nobody was holding his feet to the fire. That’s probably been a big wake-up call for him.”

Briscoe’s eyes are wide open now, a first-time winner for JGR and, yes, he is indeed playoff bound.

Briscoe returned to victory lane Sunday at Pocono Raceway, stretching the final drops of fuel down the stretch to hold off Hamlin for his third career Cup victory and first with his new race team.

“I’ve only won three races in the Cup Series, right? But this is by far the least enjoyable just because it’s expected now,” Briscoe said. “You have to go win. Where at SHR, you really felt like you surprised the world if you won.”

Briscoe raced his way into an automatic spot in NASCAR’s playoffs with the win and gave the No. 19 Toyota its first victory since 2023 when Martin Truex Jr. had the ride. Briscoe lost his job at the end of last season at Stewart-Haas Racing when the team folded and he was tabbed to replace Truex — almost a year to the day for his win at Pocono — in the four-car JGR field.

Hamlin, who holds the track record with seven wins, appeared on the brink of reeling in Briscoe over the final, thrilling laps only to have not enough in the No. 11 Toyota to snag that eighth Pocono win.

“It was just so hard to have a guy chasing you, especially the guy that’s the greatest of all time here,” Briscoe said.

Briscoe made his final pit stop on lap 119 of the 160-lap race, while Hamlin — who returned after missing last week’s race following the birth of his son — made his final stop on 120. Hamlin’s team radioed to him that they believed Briscoe would fall about a half-lap short on fuel — only for the first-year JGR driver to win by 0.682 seconds.

“The most nervous I get is when two of our cars are up front,” Gibbs said.

Gibbs now has Hamlin, Bell and Briscoe in the playoff field.

“It’s definitely more work but it’s because they’re at such a high level,” Briscoe said. “Even racing with teammates that are winning has been a big adjustment for me.”

Briscoe, who won an Xfinity Series race at Pocono in 2020, raced to his third career Cup victory and first since Darlington in 2024.

Briscoe has been on bit of a hot streak, and had his fourth top-10 finish over the last six races, including a seventh-place finish in last week’s ballyhooed race in Mexico City.

He became the 11th driver to earn a spot in the 16-driver field with nine races left until the field is set and made a winner again of crew chief James Small. Small stayed on the team through Truex’s final winless season and Briscoe’s winless start to this season.

“It’s been a tough couple of years,” Small said. “We’ve never lost belief, any of us.”

Hamlin finished second. Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher and Chase Elliott completed the top five.

Briscoe, raised a dirt racer in Indiana, gave JGR its 18th Cup victory at Pocono.

“I literally grew up racing my sprint car video game in a Joe Gibbs Racing Home Depot uniform,” Briscoe said. “To get Coach in victory lane after them taking a chance on me, it’s so rewarding truthfully. Just a big weight off my shoulders. I’ve been telling my wife the last two weeks, I have to win. To finally come here and do it, it has been a great day.”

The race was delayed 2 hours, 10 minutes by rain and the conditions were muggy by the time the green flag dropped. Briscoe led 72 laps and won the second stage.

Briscoe wrote before the race on social media, “Anybody going from Pocono to Oklahoma City after the race Sunday?” The Pacers fan — he bet on the team to win the NBA title — wasn’t going to make it to Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

He’ll certainly settle for a ride to victory lane.

Clean race

Carson Hocevar made a clean pass of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and two feuding drivers battled without incident on restarts as they appeared to race in peace after a pair of recent wrecks on the track threatened to spill into Pocono.

Stenhouse’s threat to beat up his racing riva l after last weekend’s race in Mexico City but cooler heads prevailed back in the United States. Hocevar finished 18th and Stenhouse 30th.

Ouch

There was a minor scare on pit road when AJ Allmendinger struck a tire in the carrier’s hand with his right front side and sent it flying into the ribs of another team’s crew member in the pit ahead of him. Jonpatrik Kealey, the rear tire changer on Shane van Gisbergen’s race team, was knocked on all fours but finished work on van Gisbergen’s pit stop.

Brake time

Bubba Wallace, Michael McDowell and Riley Herbst all had their races spoiled by brake issues.

“It was a scary feeling for sure,” Herbst said. “I was just starting to get tight, just a bad adjustment on my part. Getting into (turn) one, the brakes just went to the floor. A brake rotor exploded and I was along for the ride.”

Up next

NASCAR heads to Atlanta. Christopher Bell won the first race at the track this season in March.

LONG POND, Pa. (AP) — Denny Hamlin earned the top seed in the inaugural version of NASCAR’s In-season Challenge, a five-race, bracket-style tournament set to kick off next week in Atlanta.

The tournament, which comes with a $1 million prize to the winner, is part of a new media rights deal that includes TNT.

The final 32-driver field was set by results of the races at Michigan, Mexico City and Pocono. Chase Briscoe won the Cup race Sunday at Pocono Raceway to finalize the field.

The drivers will be paired in head-to-head matchups based on seeding, with the winners advancing to the next round in a bracket format that mirrors the NCAA basketball tournaments.

Hamlin goes head-to-head next week against the 32nd seed, Ty Dillon. Briscoe earned the second seed, Chris Buescher is third, Christopher Bell fourth and Chase Elliott fifth.

The format is single elimination with the field cut to 16 at Chicago, eight at Sonoma, four at Dover and the final two at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The tournament is patterned after in-season tournaments that are staged by soccer leagues around the world and even brought to the NBA.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

LONG POND, Pa. (AP) — Denny Hamlin earned the top seed in the inaugural version of NASCAR’s In-season Challenge, a five-race, bracket-style tournament set to kick off next week in Atlanta.

The tournament, which comes with a $1 million prize to the winner, is part of a new media rights deal that includes TNT.

The final 32-driver field was set by results of the races at Michigan, Mexico City and Pocono. Chase Briscoe won the Cup race Sunday at Pocono Raceway to finalize the field.

The drivers will be paired in head-to-head matchups based on seeding, with the winners advancing to the next round in a bracket format that mirrors the NCAA basketball tournaments.

Hamlin goes head-to-head next week against the 32nd seed, Ty Dillon. Briscoe earned the second seed, Chris Buescher is third, Christopher Bell fourth and Chase Elliott fifth.

The format is single elimination with the field cut to 16 at Chicago, eight at Sonoma, four at Dover and the final two at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The tournament is patterned after in-season tournaments that are staged by soccer leagues around the world and even brought to the NBA.

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

The Associated Press

Bubba Wallace had no warning of impending doom, but once he heard the brake rotor explosion, he knew what was coming.

“Oh my God,” Wallace radioed as his Toyota took off for the Turn 2 wall Sunday at Pocono Raceway.

The incident, on lap 55, was the second of the day for a 23XI Racing driver. Wallace suffered the same fate as teammate Riley Herbst, who crashed in Turn 1 on lap 42 after a brake rotor explosion, and was forced to retire from the race early. He was running 27th at the time.

“I was going to battle the No. 17 (Chris Buescher) into Turn 2, and by the time I was ready to touch the pedal, it just went to the floor,” Wallace said. “The brakes exploded. I hate it. We’ve had two or three good races in a row, then here we go with the bad luck again. But MJ (Michael Jordan) told me there’s no such thing as bad luck, so we create our own luck.

“I apologize to the racing gods – this weekend sucked aside from practice, but that pays nothing.”

Wallace was the second-fastest driver overall in Cup Series practice, but then he couldn’t make a qualifying lap when his car would not fire on pit road because of a starter issue.

The team finished the first stage in 21st position after coming from the rear of the field. The brake issue and crash occurred early in the second stage.

“I hate it for my guys,” Wallace said. “I hate it for McDonald’s. We knew it was going to be a grind, and I was mentally prepared for that all day. As frustrating as it gets here to not be able to pass here in Pocono, we were going to just take our lumps and march our way through and set ourselves up for the end of the race. The brakes didn’t want us to hang around that long.”

Pocono Raceway is Wallace’s sixth DNF of the season. He will finish 36th of 37 drivers.

In the bigger picture, he entered the weekend having finished 12th or better in the last three races. The stretch pushed him to ninth in the championship standings with a 57-point advantage on the playoff grid cutline.

Chase Briscoe

LONG POND — Chase Briscoe got the cold facts when the third-generation driver’s career took an unexpected turn, leaving his lame-duck NASCAR team for the sport’s most coveted available seat with powerhouse Joe Gibbs Racing.

The message was clear at JGR — home of five Cup driver titles and a perennial contender to win another one.

“You don’t make the playoffs,” Briscoe said, “you don’t race in this car anymore.”

The Toyotas were better at JGR, sure. So were the championship standards set by Joe Gibbs and the rest of the organization.

“It’s been a lot of work,” Briscoe’s crew chief James Small said. “From where he came from, there wasn’t much accountability. Nobody was holding his feet to the fire. That’s probably been a big wake-up call for him.”

Briscoe’s eyes are wide open now, a first-time winner for JGR and, yes, he is indeed playoff bound.

Briscoe returned to victory lane Sunday at Pocono Raceway, stretching the final drops of fuel down the stretch to hold off Hamlin for his third career Cup victory and first with his new race team.

“I’ve only won three races in the Cup Series, right? But this is by far the least enjoyable just because it’s expected now,” Briscoe said. “You have to go win. Where at SHR, you really felt like you surprised the world if you won.”

Briscoe raced his way into an automatic spot in NASCAR’s playoffs with the win and gave the No. 19 Toyota its first victory since 2023 when Martin Truex Jr. had the ride. Briscoe lost his job at the end of last season at Stewart-Haas Racing when the team folded and he was tabbed to replace Truex — almost a year to the day for his win at Pocono — in the four-car JGR field.

Hamlin, who holds the track record with seven wins, appeared on the brink of reeling in Briscoe over the final, thrilling laps only to have not enough in the No. 11 Toyota to snag that eighth Pocono win.

“It was just so hard to have a guy chasing you, especially the guy that’s the greatest of all time here,” Briscoe said.

Briscoe made his final pit stop on lap 119 of the 160-lap race, while Hamlin — who returned after missing last week’s race following the birth of his son — made his final stop on 120. Hamlin’s team radioed to him that they believed Briscoe would fall about a half-lap short on fuel — only for the first-year JGR driver to win by 0.682 seconds.

“The most nervous I get is when two of our cars are up front,” Gibbs said.

Gibbs now has Hamlin, Bell and Briscoe in the playoff field.

“It’s definitely more work but it’s because they’re at such a high level,” Briscoe said. “Even racing with teammates that are winning has been a big adjustment for me.”

Briscoe, who won an Xfinity Series race at Pocono in 2020, raced to his third career Cup victory and first since Darlington in 2024.

Briscoe has been on bit of a hot streak, and had his fourth top-10 finish over the last six races, including a seventh-place finish in last week’s ballyhooed race in Mexico City.

He became the 11th driver to earn a spot in the 16-driver field with nine races left until the field is set and made a winner again of crew chief James Small. Small stayed on the team through Truex’s final winless season and Briscoe’s winless start to this season.

“It’s been a tough couple of years,” Small said. “We’ve never lost belief, any of us.”

Hamlin finished second. Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher and Chase Elliott completed the top five.

Briscoe, raised a dirt racer in Indiana, gave JGR its 18th Cup victory at Pocono.

“I literally grew up racing my sprint car video game in a Joe Gibbs Racing Home Depot uniform,” Briscoe said. “To get Coach in victory lane after them taking a chance on me, it’s so rewarding truthfully. Just a big weight off my shoulders. I’ve been telling my wife the last two weeks, I have to win. To finally come here and do it, it has been a great day.”

The race was delayed 2 hours, 10 minutes by rain and the conditions were muggy by the time the green flag dropped. Briscoe led 72 laps and won the second stage.

Briscoe wrote before the race on social media, “Anybody going from Pocono to Oklahoma City after the race Sunday?” The Pacers fan — he bet on the team to win the NBA title — wasn’t going to make it to Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

He’ll certainly settle for a ride to victory lane.

Elsewhere:

n Alex Palou won the IndyCar XPEL Grand Prix in Plymouth, Wis., on Sunday with Felix Rosenqvist second.

n Shawn Langdon won the Top Fuel division, and Austin Prock won Funny Car in the American Rebel Light Virginia NHRA Nationals on Sunday.

n Connor Zilisch, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. filling in as his crew chief, won the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Pocono on Saturday.