Five races into his tenure with Williams, Carlos Sainz admitted that he expected the transition to be tough, facing a slow climb into the points.
In the pre-season test, Williams impressed everyone with their fast lap times, with Carlos Sainz taking the charge. However, since the 2025 F1 season began, it has been a much slower journey to points positions.
As it currently stands, Alex Albon has 20 out of the 25 points that Williams has earned this season, with Carlos Sainz having the other five. It has been the best performance for the Atlassian Williams Racing team in years, and yet Sainz has struggled to find the potential so many expected of him.
However, Sainz admitted that his current level of performance isn’t a surprise with the Spaniard coming into a new team and getting used to an entirely new car.
He said, “Honestly, yeah, more or less how I expected to get on. I knew the first part of the season was always going to be tough.”
“Even if I had a very strong Abu Dhabi and car in test with the team, I knew that when it came to Q2, Q3, my lack of experience with the car, one way or another, would show. And it showed mainly in Australia.”
Progress through the season
While the season had a slow start, Sainz looks to each round as a step forward, with China being the outlier. He told the media, “I think China had just a very poor weekend. Two things that I still don’t understand.”
“And then in Japan, honestly, I was within half a tenth of Q3. And then Bahrain and Saudi, Q3 and getting close to the maximum out of the car.”
The Spaniard wasn’t shy about talking about the adjustment to a new team and the expectations around it. Saying, “So I think out of the people who have changed teams, to be honest, I think I’m getting up to speed pretty quickly.”
Alex Albon has outperformed many of his past Formula 1 teammates, and Sainz admitted that his ability in the car is impressive.
“It’s never easy, especially with a guy like Alex that knows the car so well. He has good experience, and he’s driving at such a high level. He keeps impressing me, qualifying some corners he does.”
“He’s really, really on the good limit of the car. I’m having to push myself out of my comfort zone. And I think we’re pushing each other along the way. And I think it’s bringing the team forward”
With the performance so far, and coming away from Saudi Arabia with a double points finish for the team. Carlos Sainz remains optimistic for the season,“I’m glad I’m contributing. Hopefully, it keeps getting better from here.”
