After a promising 2025 at Williams, Carlos Sainz believes he has become a better driver now than he was during his time at Ferrari.
2025 saw Sainz join the Grove-based squad after being replaced at the Scuderia by Lewis Hamilton, and exceded his and the team’s expectations with two podiums.
This helped the team to secure fifth in the Constructors Championship, which in turn, helped the team to hold high hopes going into 2026 with the new regulations.
Despite Williams being one of the first teams to admit that they had turned their attention to the new rulebook and weren’t going to continue upgrading their 2025 machinery, 2026 has been a woeful year.
With only 12 points scored, Williams currently sits ninth in the table, with Sainz and Albon 18th and 19th respectively, the lowest point return among the Mercedes-backed power trains.
Therefore, it has been an agonising and frustrating season for Sainz, from winning races in his last season for Ferrari to fighting for a Q2 appearance two years later.
What makes Carlos Sainz more ‘frustrated’
For Sainz, it feels almost an irony that he is in this position, given he is performing on a higher level than he was before.
“I can only tell you from my position, it is a very frustrating position to be in,” Sainz said to media, including Motorsport Week, at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
“To think I was winning here in Mexico two years ago and on Saturday I will be starting P17 on the grid and I am the same driver, if anything, I am a better driver than I was on 2024.
“I can only tell you how frustrating it is, it is difficult to accept sometimes, but we all have the discipline that when or at least when the visor goes down, even if I can achieve P16 or P17, I’m not going to put myself in a stupid situation.”
The Spaniard has admitted that during his time at Williams and racing towards the back of the field has given him a newfound appreciation for the difficulties associated with driving for a backmarker team.
“When I was leading in Mexico and complaining about the blue flags, I’ve now been at both ends of the field. It’s a lot more difficult to deal with than what you see on TV,” He said.
“It’s something that I have learned this year. I would never have liked to have learned this unfortunately, but it is something that I have had to go through this year and I’m definitely not enjoying it, and I am going to try and make sure I’m never in this position again.”
Williams recored a zero points haul in São Paulo, despite a weather changing qualifying enabling the Spaniards teammate Alex Albon to progress to Q3 and start in the top 10.
Sainz, who finished two laps down in 19th, took some time experimenting with set-up direction that helped improve the competitiveness of his FW48.
“During the race, it was such a tricky first stint that I tired a few things on the tools and on the front wing. Suddenly in the last stint, I was is much more competitive and that makes me think I may have found something to look into.” He said.
“However, during Friday practise, we were playing with the set up but didn’t find anything big.”
Can Williams claw back a few points in the last triple header?
READ MORE – Ex-Ferrari employee issues Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc warning
Discussion about this post