Sainz admits Williams step back after ‘very tough’ winter

Feb.24 (GMM) Carlos Sainz has admitted Williams has taken a step backwards heading into 2026, describing a “very tough” winter marked by production delays and missed targets.

Speaking in Spain at a sponsor event with Estrella Galicia, the former Ferrari driver struck a realistic tone.

“I prefer to be realistic, and we’re not where we were last year,” he said. “It’s been a difficult winter for the team, but that doesn’t mean the whole season will be like the first race.

“The car and the engine are going to develop a lot.”

Williams was forced to miss the Barcelona shakedown due to manufacturing setbacks, with Sainz revealing the scale of the disruption.

“It’s a very long story to tell here,” he said. “We had production problems at the factory. We thought we could get things done in a timeframe and we realised we couldn’t, and we were late.”

Despite speculation he may regret the move to Grove, Sainz insisted it is too early to judge.

“When I signed with Williams, I knew there would be bumps in the road,” he said. “Until my time at Williams is over, it won’t be possible to analyse whether it was the right decision or not.

“It’s been a very tough three months and we haven’t been as prepared as we should have been. But if you look back, Williams gave me the opportunity to fight for podiums in 2025. If someone had told you I’d get two and a half podiums, no one would have believed it.”

He described the current car as “still green”, although reliability was solid in Bahrain testing.

“At Williams you can improve in every aspect,” Sainz said. “Right now it’s a car that’s very new and we’re going to improve it in everything. Reliability is the only thing that behaved well in Bahrain.”

He also sympathised with his fellow Spaniard, Fernando Alonso, who is also much closer to the rear of the grid than the front for the start of the season.

“I saw Fernando and he sees it the same as me. He is looking forward to seeing what his team is capable of offering, but above all what their ability to react will be. We are both on the same line,” he said.

As for the pecking order ahead of Melbourne, Sainz admitted the picture remains opaque.

“I think it’s impossible to know if those at the top have hidden five or ten kilos more than the other,” he said. “And believe me, I’ve asked, but nobody tells me anything.

“You have to understand that 10 kilos is three or four tenths, but an engine map can change things by six or seven tenths. We’re here speculating about who has kept three tenths in weight or fuel or power.

“It’s impossible. That’s why I recommend waiting ten days to see what happens, because I don’t know either.”

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