Williams boss James Vowles conceded there is a “shared frustration” with Carlos Sainz about the bad luck he’s endured in his debut Formula 1 season with the team.
Sainz has encountered a disrupted start to his Williams spell as circumstances outside his control have hampered his attempts to build up some momentum in 2025.
The Spaniard has been made to rue losing out on valuable points at several races due to strategic errors, technical problems and even other drivers colliding with him.
Sainz’s setbacks have tended to materialise on the race weekends where the Grove-based squad’s much-improved FW47 challenger has been at its most competitive.
That has restricted Sainz to 16 points in 14 races, 38 less than team-mate Alex Albon, the pair combining to position Williams fifth in the Constructors’ Championship.
Vowles has revealed he had various conversations with Sainz in the build-up to last weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, where the two bemoaned his misfortune to date.
Asked whether Sainz has the biggest discrepancy between performance and results, Vowles told media including Motorsport Week: “I couldn’t adjudicate all drivers.
“What I can more talk about is us and what we’re doing. He and I had a talk before this weekend. Then we were out cycling and had a talk there as well.
“There’s a shared frustration between the two of us. There’s no doubt about it that there has been thought on all sides this year.
“There’s been moments where the car’s quick, but we’ve either crashed or something’s happened. We’ve had it wrong strategically. There’s been moments where we sat for the weekend together. There’s been moments where he’s been caught out multiple times in qualifying by either blocking or red flags, one of which we’ve created [Albon in Canada].
“He’s incredibly quick, as you can see, when everything runs smoothly. We’re just not able to get it smooth.
“And even yesterday [Friday in Hungary], I would argue in free practice, it wasn’t smooth again. We just didn’t get everything out of the car that we could.
“I don’t know if it’s the most up and down the grid. I suspect I’ve seen some drivers that are out in Q1 a number of times that probably shouldn’t be. That’s not normally the case with Carlos.”
Williams aiming to provide Sainz strong end to 2025
Vowles believes Sainz is now up to speed at Williams since his winter arrival, the latter having asserted it might take him 10 races to maximise the car at his disposal.
However, the Briton has acknowledged that the emphasis is on Williams to guarantee the ex-Ferrari driver is given the conditions to translate that into tangible results.
“I think we’re now at a stage where he understands us and he understands the car a lot more,” Vowles added. “It is different to where the Ferrari was.
“We’re not going to be able to make it into the Ferrari. But as you can see, it’s still performing to the way it is.
“I think we’ve reached that stage in the season where we’re all comfortable with it.
“Our job now, this is on us as a team, is [to] make sure we provide a smooth platform, no pun intended, where we are delivering so that he can deliver himself at the same time.”
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