Carlos Sainz sees Aston Martin’s impressive turnaround during the Hungarian race weekend as proof that Williams can also take a big step forward. The Spaniard himself had a disappointing Saturday at the Hungaroring, where he qualified eighteenth. Teammate Alex Albon drove the nineteenth fastest time. After an impressive resurgence in 2025, Williams took a clear step back this season.
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Aston Martin also experienced a disappointing first half of the season, in which the team effectively had the slowest car on the grid. In Hungary, however, hope is dawning again. Thanks to an extensive upgrade package, Fernando Alonso managed to advance to Q2 for the first time this season. According to Sainz, Aston Martin’s progress shows how quickly the dynamics in Formula 1 can shift. He therefore urges his team to make a similar comeback.
“As a team, we have to look at it positively,” he reacted to the press. “I want everyone to remain positive, instead of just fearing Aston Martin. For me, this mainly shows that when you know your own limitations and see that another F1 team with similar facilities can make such a big turnaround, we must prove to ourselves that we can do it too. And if that doesn’t work, we have to ask ourselves why. Why don’t we have that capacity? For the future, it is important that we show that we are also capable of achieving such a turnaround.”
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Dreams of a Redemptive Upgrade
“Aston Martin still had a worse chassis than us in Spa, with less downforce to boot,” Sainz noted. “Now they have the most downforce of the entire midfield. So it’s up to us to find a similar solution and further develop the car. I look at it positively, because the team has to look at this and say: ‘Yes, it’s possible if you do it right.’” Nevertheless, Sainz expects the impact of Williams’ planned updates in Baku to still become apparent. The development of the FW48 had already been difficult, which meant the team missed, among other things, the shakedown in Barcelona.
Teammate Albon was also less optimistic about the possibilities. “I don’t know what kind of upgrade Aston Martin has implemented, but we can only dream of that,” he sighed. “Hats off to them. On some circuits, we will be able to compete with them thanks to our top speed on the straights, but I can tell you that they are significantly faster than us in the corners. For us, this is an eye-opener. We know what our next upgrade in Baku is capable of, but we won’t make such a big leap. So there’s still plenty of work to be done.”
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Read everything about the Hungarian GP here
