Sainz: Williams setbacks ‘stressing the system’ for 2026

Carlos Sainz may be enduring a turbulent first season with Williams, but the Spaniard insists the team’s struggles in 2025 are not in vain.

While the iconic British outfit has suffered reliability issues and operational missteps, Sainz believes these "very painful" failures are laying the groundwork for a serious push in 2026 when Formula 1 undergoes its big regulation reset.

After making the high-profile switch from Ferrari at the end of last season, Sainz was drawn in by team principal James Vowles’ ambitious long-term vision to restore Williams as a front-running force.

Halfway through the 2025 campaign, that vision is beginning to take shape. With 59 points, Williams sits fifth in the constructors’ standings – its best midseason tally since 2017, and already a significant leap forward for a team that’s spent years stuck at the back of the grid.

Yet for all the progress, frustration remains. Races where Sainz and teammate Alex Albon have had the pace to fight near the front have often ended with points lost due to mechanical failures or strategic miscues.

But rather than seeing these setbacks as discouraging, Sainz views them as vital learning moments that are accelerating the team’s growth ahead of 2026’s new era.

A Great Test… But a Very Painful One

Sainz has noted the internal pressure created by suddenly being competitive – and how that pressure is exposing the team’s weak points.

"A more competitive car is stressing the system of how we do things and the way we work," Sainz told the media at Silverstone, quoted by RacingNews365.

"At times this year, we've been able to fight Red Bull, Mercedes and even Ferrari in Miami and at Imola, and it has exposed not only our reliability issues, but also the way we look at strategy, at Q1 and Q2 and the way we execute the weekend."

For Sainz, the experience of racing at the sharp end of the grid has given the team early insight into areas that need to improve before the more pivotal 2026 season, when sweeping technical rule changes are expected to shake up the competitive order.

"It is giving us a great opportunity to learn a lot of the things we could learn next year with a more competitive car," he said.

"But thanks to this much more competitive car, it has already given us a heads up on everything we need to improve and the margins of improvement if we want to fight the guys at the front."

• Read also: Sainz never ’really close’ to joining Mercedes during 2024 talks

While Sainz acknowledges the current campaign has been littered with missed opportunities, he believes these growing pains are necessary for Williams to eventually challenge for wins and championships again.

"It is a great test for the team, but a very painful one, because you see a car that can get points almost every weekend, and we keep finding different little things that don't allow us to," he said.

"We're stressing the system to know exactly where we need to get better to be at a championship-level."

For a team that’s spent years rebuilding its foundation, these are high-quality problems. And for Sainz, the sting of 2025 may yet prove to be the fuel that powers Williams’ renaissance.

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