Ahead of the Dutch GP, Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon spoke in print media sessions about renewing with Williams F1 into the 2027 season. While the Thai’s deal is only for next year, the Spaniard has a multi-year one sorted.
It has been a dreadful season for Williams and will not be getting better from here. The FW48 failed to make private testing in Barcelona. It was overweight and slow when the season started in Australia. While the package has lost weight, the car continues to be extremely disappointing, with both drivers regularly getting lapped in races and miles off the points at recent rounds.
Sainz is 15th in the points, with Albon a place behind him. Williams are 9th in the Constructors’ Championship, having dropped behind Audi heading into the summer break.
It is a far cry from 2025 when they were P5 on the Constructors’ side, with the Thai and Spaniard 8th and 9th in the Drivers’ Championship; they also scored two podiums thanks to the four-time F1 race winner as the FW47 proved to be a very good car.
Having vowed to “break everything” to be a massively strong team in 2026, James Vowles is facing his first big test as Williams F1 boss because of what has happened this season.
Carlos Sainz opens up on staying at Williams F1 Team for 2027
Asked what the key was for him to stay at Williams F1 Team for next year and potentially beyond, Carlos Sainz discussed his efforts to understand what went wrong and how the team plans on turning things around.
With the Grove-based squad arguably overachieving in F1 2025, the large come back down to earth has been a painful one for the drivers, Team Principal and everyone at Williams.
The former Ferrari driver is aware that is a long-term project, with 2026 delaying the progress they had hoped to make.
“I think I’ve been spending the last few months trying to understand, together with the team, what has happened in order to get ourselves into the situation that we are in today, which is obviously a disappointment for everyone involved in this project. And [it is] a project that probably has now been delayed in terms of how long it’s going to take us to get back to the top.
“More or less trying to understand that and trying to see what is happening behind the scenes to make sure it doesn’t happen again, and what are the medium to long-term plans of the team to become a top team one day. I think the medium to long-term plans are still what is giving me the hope and the confidence that we can be competitive in the near future.”
Understanding what went wrong
“What was extremely important to me is obviously to understand what has caused this difficult year and what are we doing in order for it not to happen again next year.
“I think something that is super important is, as a team, as everyone involved in this project, to make sure we turn things around as soon as next year and that we still start showing again some positive momentum going into next year.”
Sainz on not wanting to give up on the project at Williams F1
Asked if he needed a lot of convincing to stay, Sainz immediately said, “No”.
When the 32-year-old signed for Williams during 2024 for 2025 and beyond, he knew it would take time to be fighting for podiums and wins like he did in 2022 and his last season for Ferrari.
While there was understandable frustration at how this year has panned out, Carlos Sainz says it is not in his nature to run away when a project has a big setback.
“I don’t think it’s part of my character to jump ships when the situation is also at its worst; I think I told everyone also how committed I am to this project two years ago, how excited I was about it, and the first time there is a bump on the road, a big bump, probably bigger than anyone could have imagined after the podiums of last year.
“I don’t think it’s part of my way of being, my character, to jump ships at the first possible opportunity. So I think in the back of my head I wanted to always renew, but I was obviously worried, concerned that we need to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
“I obviously had to go back to everyone and understand where we are, where we’re planning to go, and how this has affected our plans.”
Alex Albon discusses one-year extension at Williams F1
In his own print media session, the Thai was questioned about why only a one-year announcement came.
The 30-year-old outlined he wants to see progress following the aforementioned reasons as to why this campaign has been so bad.
“Yeah, that must be more to JV than to me, but on my side I want to see a reaction, I want to see what the team can deliver, I want to see a strong bounce back from this year.
“We talked about the performance of the car, but there’s been a lot of areas as a team that we haven’t delivered on, whether it’s the quality of the car or clearly the weight, missing testing, there’s a few things this year that we’ve let slip.
“And I know JV and everyone at the team were doing a huge effort to correct these issues. But it’s not just one single thing, this year it’s been quite a few things, so there’s still work that needs to be done.”
Albon on Sainz and himself continuing with Williams into F1 2027
The two-time podium finisher then discussed the importance of both drivers committing to the project.
Albon explained how Williams are going deep into things to try and fix fundamental issues they have faced for over a decade now, which briefly got hidden by the strong performances they delivered in 2025 as the FW47 proved to be the midfield benchmark.
“Yes, I mean, in many ways it’s been a frustrating year, but we’re confident with the work that we’re doing behind the scenes.
“In many ways it feels like you need these really, you wish they didn’t happen on you, but sometimes these years like we’re having so far this year, creates a reaction from the team. And sometimes you question, it’s a time when, is it a good reaction or a bad reaction?
“To me this year, it’s been extremely frustrating, but it’s been the first time for example, where I really see us actually looking at these issues deep, to a level that I feel like, maybe we glossed over even last year, we’re having good results and the problems were still there, the DNAs of the car are still there.
“But this year it’s taken far more seriously to a much stronger level than ever before. This year is, what I’m hoping is a blip, and of course next year I want to see that progress and I want to see us back to what I believe is the potential of the team.
“But yeah, that’s why we re-signed.”
A journey as they look to improve and make steps forward
Alex Albon joined Williams in 2022 when the team was struggling for performance. 2025 was the first time they looked to have made genuine progress with multiple podiums and top 5 finishes.
However, despite better financial resources and bigger names in the team now on the technical side, it has been a bruising campaign with the FW48 returning them to near the back of the grid once more.
Instead of completing thinking about championship positions next year, Alex Albon is focusing on the journey and what Williams need to do to regularly score points again in 2027.
“Yeah, I mean it’s one of them things because it is a results-based sport for the most part.
“But at the same time, it’s the journey, what areas are we focused on? Are we focused on the right areas? For example, missing Barcelona, being as overweight as we have been this year, we know it’s not good enough.
“I’d like to say fairly confidently we shouldn’t be in those positions next year, we should be starting off on the front foot. This year we’re still seeing a lot of the effects of the beginning of this year and we are developing a car compromised.
“To say I want to be in this position [in the championship] or not, it’s not really it. I’m not going to tell you the list but I could write a list of all the areas as a team that we need to improve on and I want to see those areas done so.”
