Sainz reveals Williams’ F1 weak spot, and how it could backfire

Carlos Sainz didn’t take long to point out the Williams car’s shortcomings compared to the Ferraris he drove in previous seasons – he was already drawing comparisons during pre-season testing. Two cars are never going to behave exactly the same, but when you jump from one to the other within hours – as happened during the Abu Dhabi test – the most glaring differences are easier to spot.

However, with the Oxford-based team choosing to focus all its efforts on 2026 and bringing no real updates to the FW47 beyond a package developed in February, the Spaniard’s feedback has not led to any upgrades this season.

Williams currently sits fifth in the constructors’ standings with 70 points, though its results have been far from consistent. Taking Australia out of the equation – with rain and crashes, it wasn’t representative – there are three circuits where the team scored double digits (Miami, Imola and Spa), and four where it came away with nothing (Bahrain, Barcelona, Austria and Hungary). In Sakhir, Sainz retired after a collision with Yuki Tsunoda, though he was battling for a top-10 finish. But Barcelona, Spielberg and the Hungaroring all share one particular feature that exposes the weaknesses of the British car – long-radius corners.

“Our aero performance is weaker in long corners where you need to maintain downforce from the entry to the midpoint,” Sainz explains. “That’s where we’re lacking – it’s been a pattern for a while, which is why we’re better in short corners and on straights. On tracks like Barcelona, Hungary or Qatar, the car struggles. We need a design philosophy change to make sure next year’s car can handle a variety of circuits.” He finished 14th in Budapest.

That problem has only been magnified for Sainz this year, as his driving style tends to load the front end more heavily during turn-in – still under braking – demanding more from the aerodynamics.

“Hungary has always been a tough track for this team,” he said. “We had a long meeting after qualifying because I’ve gone from a team that was on pole to one that’s in 13th. I can give a lot of feedback on what this car’s missing at a circuit like this.”

More generally, the Williams FW47 hasn’t performed well at high-downforce circuits, regardless of corner types. But it’s fared far better on tracks with long straights and low to medium downforce. That’s why there’s real optimism around upcoming races like Monza, Baku and later, Las Vegas.

Sainz, meanwhile, is focusing on the variables within his control: “In the short term, I’m concentrating on execution each weekend. There’s nothing I can do with the aero or the setup – I tried three or four different ones in Hungary and ended up going back to what worked for me in Miami and Imola. I’ll make sure we have clean weekends. If we had done that in Spa, Miami or Imola, we’d have walked away with a lot more points.”

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