Williams driver Carlos Sainz fears the team is moving backward as upgrades fail to deliver vital on-track speed.
SILVERSTONE
Formula 1 star Carlos Sainz is growing increasingly concerned about his team’s performance. He fears Williams is moving backward instead of recovering from a rough start to the season. Sainz had high hopes when he joined Williams, believing the team’s early focus on new racing rules would pay off. Instead, the season has been highly disappointing. Initially, the main problem was a heavily overweight car. However, even after shedding significant weight, the car remains slow on the track.
The recent race weekend at Silverstone highlighted these struggles. Despite a strong start that pushed him into the top ten, Sainz was easily overtaken by rivals from Alpine and Audi, the very teams he turned down to join Williams.
“It is frustrating because we are not finding extra speed when we bring new parts,” Sainz admitted. He noted that while the car is much lighter now than it was during early races, the gap to the front-runners is actually growing.
The team recently introduced a new front wing that performed well in simulator tests, but it failed to deliver a real performance boost during the actual race. Both Sainz and teammate Alex Albon have complained about handling balance issues and a lack of aerodynamic grip.
Williams Team Principal James Vowles acknowledged the frustration but explained that the team is still rebuilding its outdated internal systems. Vowles revealed that design data was caught too late during the winter, leading to the heavy initial car. Because Williams lacks the decades of organized data that top teams possess, fixing these errors takes longer and costs more under the sport’s budget limits.
To save their season, Williams is planning a major car redesign for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in September. This update aims to fix the vehicle’s balance flaws and poor handling. For Sainz, who is deeply committed to helping the team improve, this upcoming upgrade will be crucial in proving that Williams can truly turn its fortunes around.