Carlos Sainz has named Williams’ targets for 2026 as the team try to turn around their challenging start to the season.
It has not been a dream start for the Grove-based outfit, who have scored just once courtesy of Sainz finishing ninth in the Chinese Grand Prix. That came after a tough pre-season when their testing programme was hampered by delays and issues with the new car, designed to the sweeping new regulations for 2026.
But despite the difficult start to their campaign, there have been some positive noises from both drivers at times. Sainz called his P9 finish in Shanghai a “mini victory” for Williams, while Alex Albon insists the team “will get there.”
At the moment, it is a battle to get a car out of Q1 in Qualifying, with Albon managing the feat in Australia and Sainz in Japan.
The team have acknowledged the FW48 is overweight, which is not helping either driver in their fight to regain some ground to the likes of Haas, Alpine, Audi and Racing Bulls in the midfield.
“Honestly, we have a lot of weight to lose, it’s no secret,” explained Sainz. “Would it be a good car [if we got the weight down]? I think we can do better.”
“Apart from the weight, I believe this team has the potential to design and produce a car that is much better than what we’ve done. For the start of the year, we had many issues on the production side that delayed the production of the car. It put the car overweight, more than we expected.”
Williams were the only team to miss the Barcelona Shakedown in January, although they did manage plenty of running in pre-season testing in Bahrain – the third most of any team in terms of laps completed, behind only McLaren and Haas.
Sainz opted to join Williams last season ahead of other teams that wanted to secure his services, convinced by team boss James Vowles about their long-term plans to climb back up the pecking order towards the front of the field.
While success in the new era of racing was never a guarantee, Williams did make encouraging strides last year to finish fifth in the Teams’ Championship, comfortably ahead of Racing Bulls with Sainz delivering two podiums for the team.
But despite the team’s best efforts, this year’s car has fallen short of expectations.
“The reality is we can all do a lot better and as a team we’re not only going to take weight out of the car, we need to gain downforce and get a better balance in it and that’s all of the targets for this year,” Sainz concluded.
Williams are one of the teams most in need of the extra time off this spring, with the Grands Prix in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia no longer taking place in April.
While their fifth-place finish in the Championship last year limits their wind tunnel time compared to the likes of Alpine, who finished 10th, Williams still have an opportunity to try and come up with solutions to their issues, as they look to exploit the pace that clearly exists in that Mercedes engine they are running too.
