Carlos Sainz worried that updates are not working for Williams despite the mega start and car weight loss, after another tough run in F1 British GP.
It was a rapid start from Williams’ Sainz in 2026 F1 British GP last weekend at Silverstone. After having started from 15th on the grid, the Spaniard shot up to 10th in the opening lap, to be running in the points. However, he dropped behind lap after lap, when faster cars managed to overtake him at ease.
In no time, he was behind the Alpine and Audi pair, fighting with the Haas duo, far off from the points. At the end of it, Sainz was left frustrated and disappointed by the outcome, despite Williams bringing updates at Silverstone. He reckons the gap only increased from the previous races to this.
Good start in F1 British GP but Sainz couldn’t hold them off
“Yeah, fortunately we did a really good start,” said Sainz in the print media post F1 British GP. “Very good Lap 1, good car positioning and I was up to the points. I thought that from there the race was won because the cars that I had behind, maybe with the dirtier, I could hold them off for the rest of the race.
“But yeah, as soon as we settled into our pace, we saw the Alpine and the Audis were just too quick for us, which has been the case all weekend and we couldn’t hold them off. Yeah, concerning, frustrating because it starts to be a bad trend this year that we don’t seem to really find a lot of lap time when the upgrades are coming.
“We need to have a good sit down now this week and analyse what’s happening because unfortunately we’ve shed a lot of weight out of the car by now but the gap to the front keeps increasing and the gap to the rear of the midfield keeps increasing so we don’t seem to be finding the lap time that we expected in the Alpine,” summed up Sainz.
Performance lack but Sainz credits Williams for the efforts put in
After the move from Ferrari to Williams, Sainz had hopes to start afresh under the new F1 2026 regulations. But it hasn’t started off well at all. From the get go, the Grove-based team were behind schedule. The overweight issue persisted in the first few rounds.
They still managed to score with it. But once they started to shed weight and bring performance updates, Sainz thinks they have taken a step back. The Spaniard, though, had applause for the Williams team for pushing forward the front wing at Silverstone, which was due at Spa-Francorchamps.
But as things stands, he thinks that they are unable to crack the code with the new regulations. “A lot of effort [by everyone], the team also,” continued Sainz. “The team at the factory, we pushed. This was a front wing that was supposed to come to Spa-Francorchamps.
“The team is pushing flat out to bring parts. We’re learning how to produce quicker, how to manufacture quicker from all the mistakes we did at the beginning. And it’s a front wing that made it in time for Silverstone.
“We managed to gain two weeks, so kudos to the whole factory for pushing flat out to arrive here with two front wings. But yeah, unfortunately you put it in FP1, you back to back with Alex. I think they did pit stops today to try and understand it.
Sainz not certain if understanding is an issue
“I don’t know if that with this set of regulations we’re not understanding the flow dynamics and the flow aerodynamics well or what is happening. But my feeling is that at Suzuka we were 1.6, 1.8 seconds with a very overweight car. Here we’re two seconds off with a much better weight. And it means that something is not going into the car. There’s some load there missing somewhere.
“We need to go find why and we need to be serious about finding all the issues and create some bounce back from here,” summed up Sainz. When asked about his mood, the Spaniard was candid about feeling low, at least after the race. But there is no time to feel down in the dumps. He knows there is a lot of work to do.
Sainz worried, knows there is mountain to climb
There is an issue in development side, which he and the team have to get through. Sainz got extra track time at Silverstone, undertaking the Pirelli tyre test for 2027 F1 season. He had his time on Tuesday, but a technical issue limited his running to 61 laps, while Alex Albon got 97 laps on Wednesday.
“Obviously I’m not happy, obviously, I’m very upset,” said Sainz, who is more worried than being upset. “You’ll see me….now I think a bit upset….worried maybe is the right word. So yeah, no one likes getting overtaken, especially after so many good starts that we’re doing this year and getting ourselves in the points multiple times and then dropping back.
“It’s been a hard season, but yeah, it’s obviously here to always try and win, always trying the best I can. Today was a frustrating day, so you will not see me very cheerful, but tomorrow when I wake up and I go to the factory in the morning I will be smiling again and trying to put all my energy to try and improve the situation and try and help the team to find the problems that we’re having.
“Because it’s clear to me now that we’re having serious issues when developing this car and we’re not bringing the performance that we thought we were,” summed up Sainz, who had some cheer in Silverstone, courtesy of his former Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, who won a F1 a race amid a sulking run.
Never doubted Leclerc’s bounce back attitude
He reiterated the ability for Charles Leclerc to bounce back, is what makes the Monegasque different.“I’ve always said to everyone, one of the biggest Charles characteristics is his bounce back effect,” said Sainz, when asked about Leclerc’s win in F1 British GP.
“I remember when I was in front of him for a few races and repeating him for three or four weekends in a row, he would always recover and fight back. It’s a very good statistic, I think, on his behalf that he’s capable of finding solutions and bouncing back and I think he just did that today. So good job on him. Yeah, happy for him and Ferrari.”
