Carlos Sainz finished P12 in the 2026 F1 Barcelona-Catalunya GP as a very difficult year for Williams continues.
Having done very well to make Q2 on Saturday, the 31-year-old knew it was going to be a long day behind the wheel of the FW48. In the end, he was lapped twice by race winner Lewis Hamilton.
Carlos Sainz proud of his efforts in 2026 F1 Barcelona-Catalunya GP
On race day, the four-time race winner did the best he could. He fought like the likes of Bortoleto, Bearman and Lindblad at certain stages. However, the FW48 was the third slowest car last weekend and eventually lost out in those fights.
In Q1, he was 0.543s faster than teammate Alex Albon. While the Thai was bemused by his car balance, Sainz did an excellent final lap.
The former Ferrari driver reflected on his day and weekend afterwards in the print media pen, highlighting how difficult the event was.
“I think we were in the end fighting cars that were quicker than us all afternoon. So it was a bit frustrating at times.
“But at the same time proud because for what I had this weekend I think I’ve done a really solid start, really solid race.
“But unfortunately this year, solid start, solid race doesn’t mean points. It still means you’re behind a few of the midfield cars, and especially in a track like this, you in the end finish where the car deserves to finish, which is P12 this weekend with even some retirements of the others.
“Unfortunately we’re struggling a lot in this kind of track, so I think this has told us that there’s still a long way to go.”
The stark reality of Williams’s 2026 F1 problems laid bare at the Circuit de Catalunya
Even though there was an enormous overhaul of the regulations heading into the 2026 F1 season, Williams’ deficiencies on tracks like Barcelona and Suzuka are as bad as ever.
Such was the struggles for Carlos Sainz to get out of Q1 in the 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya GP qualifying session, he used all his new soft tyres in that segment. Even then, he was a full 0.8s slower than the quickest midfield runner, his former teammate Nico Hülkenberg.
Coming into the weekend, Williams Team Principal James Vowles and his drivers had warned to expect a tough event where points were very unlikely.
Nonetheless, Carlos Sainz emphasised the brutal reality of the situation they are in at present.
“I think realistically speaking we expected it to be hard.
“Looking back at it I think it’s been a bit more of a shock of how far [away] we are in medium and high speed corners. Partly due to weight but even more important the [lack of] downforce that we have in the car.
“I think it’s been a massive, I wouldn’t call it shock, not even a wake-up call because we knew it, but a realisation that we are very far from where we should be, where we targeted to be or where we want to be.
“I think it’s time to go back to the drawing board and start bringing more things to the car because clearly in a medium speed track we are very far.“
No surprise at the gap to the front of the midfield
By the end of the 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya GP, Carlos Sainz was a whopping 52s behind Pierre Gasly, the lead midfield car in P7. While Gasly did benefit by pitting under the Alonso VSC, it was an enormous margin. At Suzuka in April, it was 33 seconds — it would have been significantly more without a Safety Car nearing the halfway mark.
The Spanish driver says it shows how important the development race is. With Williams coming from further back, they need to deliver bigger upgrades just to start getting towards the front of the midfield at every type of track. They remain 8th in the Constructors’ Championship and are now 46 points behind Alpine post-Barcelona.
“No, I think this weekend the gap to the midfield teams is exactly more or less what we thought.
“It’s just that we have come to a track where there is medium and high speed and we haven’t been to a proper medium and high speed track since Suzuka.
“In Suzuka we were really far away from the midfield, half a lap down almost. Here we have been a bit more in the fight with them, but really far from Alpine, for example.
“It shows that even if you improve, the others are improving also. So even if we brought some upgrades to Miami and Canada, you need to double them up if you really want to cut the gap back, because if not, you are going to crawl back to the [front of the] midfield very very slowly.”
