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One of F1’s disappointing starters with “potential” urged to make “big step”
Williams has struggled in the early phase of the Formula 1 season, but Carlos Sainz is keeping the faith that the team can turn it’s season around.
Carlos Sainz has detailed the problems currently facing Williams, with the team struggling for pace in the new Formula 1 era.
Williams ended the 2025 season strongly, with Sainz twice standing on the podium, and finishing the Texas sprint race in the top three. But the comedown this year has been abrupt, with both Alex Albon and the Spaniard regularly struggling to escape Q1, and ahead only of Aston Martin and new team Cadillac in the constructors’ standings.
Explaining the issues holding Williams back in the opening races, Sainz said: “Honestly, we have a lot of weight to lose, it’s no secret. Would it be a good car [if we got the weight down]? I think we can do better.
“Apart from the weight, I believe this team has the potential to design and produce a car that is much better than what we’ve done. For the start of the year, we had many issues on the production side that delayed the production of the car. It put the car overweight, more than we expected.”
He added: “The reality is we can all do a lot better and as a team we’re not only going to take weight out of the car, we need to gain downforce and get a better balance in it and that’s all of the targets for this year.”
The unexpected five week break – a result of the ongoing conflict in Iran – will allow teams to complete significant upgrade work back at base, before bringing these revised packages to the Miami Grand Prix at the start of May.
Highlighting the scale of the changes expected, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has suggested the weekend could be ‘the start of a new championship’, with the pecking order altered, or at least, closed.
“I expect that the team will do a big push over the month to come up with something for Miami which is a good step forward,” said Sainz.
“At the same time, everything in this sport is relative, so you can bring a big step forward, then if the others bring a big step, then you haven’t moved forward, you’re still three tenths behind the midfield. So it’s more about how much of a bigger step forward you bring compared to the rest of the teams.
“I hope that, in that case, we know we have a lot of weight to take out of the car, we have a lot of downforce to add. It will be about how much we are able to do for Miami.”
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Williams has struggled in the early phase of the Formula 1 season, but Carlos Sainz is keeping the faith that the team can turn it’s season around.
Carlos Sainz has detailed the problems currently facing Williams, with the team struggling for pace in the new Formula 1 era.
Williams ended the 2025 season strongly, with Sainz twice standing on the podium, and finishing the Texas sprint race in the top three. But the comedown this year has been abrupt, with both Alex Albon and the Spaniard regularly struggling to escape Q1, and ahead only of Aston Martin and new team Cadillac in the constructors’ standings.
Explaining the issues holding Williams back in the opening races, Sainz said: “Honestly, we have a lot of weight to lose, it’s no secret. Would it be a good car [if we got the weight down]? I think we can do better.
“Apart from the weight, I believe this team has the potential to design and produce a car that is much better than what we’ve done. For the start of the year, we had many issues on the production side that delayed the production of the car. It put the car overweight, more than we expected.”
He added: “The reality is we can all do a lot better and as a team we’re not only going to take weight out of the car, we need to gain downforce and get a better balance in it and that’s all of the targets for this year.”
The unexpected five week break – a result of the ongoing conflict in Iran – will allow teams to complete significant upgrade work back at base, before bringing these revised packages to the Miami Grand Prix at the start of May.
Highlighting the scale of the changes expected, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has suggested the weekend could be ‘the start of a new championship’, with the pecking order altered, or at least, closed.
“I expect that the team will do a big push over the month to come up with something for Miami which is a good step forward,” said Sainz.
“At the same time, everything in this sport is relative, so you can bring a big step forward, then if the others bring a big step, then you haven’t moved forward, you’re still three tenths behind the midfield. So it’s more about how much of a bigger step forward you bring compared to the rest of the teams.
“I hope that, in that case, we know we have a lot of weight to take out of the car, we have a lot of downforce to add. It will be about how much we are able to do for Miami.”
Carlos Sainz has detailed the problems currently facing Williams, with the team struggling for pace in the new Formula 1 era.
Williams ended the 2025 season strongly, with Sainz twice standing on the podium, and finishing the Texas sprint race in the top three. But the comedown this year has been abrupt, with both Alex Albon and the Spaniard regularly struggling to escape Q1, and ahead only of Aston Martin and new team Cadillac in the constructors’ standings.
Explaining the issues holding Williams back in the opening races, Sainz said: “Honestly, we have a lot of weight to lose, it’s no secret. Would it be a good car [if we got the weight down]? I think we can do better.
“Apart from the weight, I believe this team has the potential to design and produce a car that is much better than what we’ve done. For the start of the year, we had many issues on the production side that delayed the production of the car. It put the car overweight, more than we expected.”
He added: “The reality is we can all do a lot better and as a team we’re not only going to take weight out of the car, we need to gain downforce and get a better balance in it and that’s all of the targets for this year.”
The unexpected five week break – a result of the ongoing conflict in Iran – will allow teams to complete significant upgrade work back at base, before bringing these revised packages to the Miami Grand Prix at the start of May.
Highlighting the scale of the changes expected, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has suggested the weekend could be ‘the start of a new championship’, with the pecking order altered, or at least, closed.
“I expect that the team will do a big push over the month to come up with something for Miami which is a good step forward,” said Sainz.
“At the same time, everything in this sport is relative, so you can bring a big step forward, then if the others bring a big step, then you haven’t moved forward, you’re still three tenths behind the midfield. So it’s more about how much of a bigger step forward you bring compared to the rest of the teams.
“I hope that, in that case, we know we have a lot of weight to take out of the car, we have a lot of downforce to add. It will be about how much we are able to do for Miami.”
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