Carlos Sainz admits that his adventure at Williams is proving much more difficult than he had anticipated. Where the Spaniard hoped to be able to fight for victory in the foreseeable future, he said on Thursday in Budapest that this ambition is not realistic for now. This raises questions about the future.
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Williams still surprised with a competitive car in 2025, but has fallen far behind this season. Sainz has only collected six World Championship points and speaks of a tough, but instructive year. “Those are fewer points than I expected, yes,” he says honestly. “Last year we performed better than I thought. And now, with the new regulations, I expected us as a team to at least achieve the same level or even take a step forward.”
The opposite happened, however. “We see that there is still a lot of work to be done before we can even think about fighting with the top teams.”
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Future
Meanwhile, there are whispers in the paddock that Sainz might be heading for the exit at Williams. The timeline for winning races is no longer what he envisioned. “That has been delayed by one or two years,” he states. “But I also see how hard the team is working behind the scenes, the vision is there, and apart from the current results, I still have faith in the team.”
Nevertheless, he wants to sit down with team principal James Vowles soon to discuss his future. “I do expect that we will sit down together to talk about the future of the team and myself.” Sainz does not yet want to commit to that future. “When will there be clarity? No idea.” Nor about what that clarity should be. So the questions remain.
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