Driver frustrated: Williams set back by several years

(Motorsport-Total.com) – “It definitely feels like we have been set back two or three years,” summarizes Alexander Albon on the 2026 Formula 1 summer break. With a meager eleven points, Williams currently sits ninth in the championship standings, after finishing fifth in the 2025 season.

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For the traditional team, it was the best championship finish since 2017, and Carlos Sainz even secured two podiums during the year. Williams is now miles away from such successes twelve months later. “This is frustrating for all of us,” admits Albon.

The former Red Bull driver reveals that last year he still expected Williams to catch up to the top teams in 2026. “Maybe I was too optimistic, but I really believed that we could start regularly fighting for podiums in 2027,” says Albon.

He thought it might even be possible “to fight for one or two wins, leave the midfield behind us, and keep up with these four teams [at the front],” he reveals. However, the reality is completely different.

At best, damage limitation possible in 2026

Williams actually saw the new Formula 1 regulations as a great opportunity, which is why they shifted their focus early in 2025 to the car for 2026. The disappointment was all the greater when they had to skip the shakedown in Barcelona in winter due to development delays.

“This rule change revealed some bottlenecks within the team, and we realized there are even bigger things we need to change – and we are working on that right now,” emphasizes Albon. Because at the moment, Williams is still chasing the deficit from winter.

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Team principal James Vowles recently emphasized that he considers it “realistic” to catch up to the top of the midfield by the end of the year. Among other things, a B-version of the FW48, which is expected by the race in Baku, should help with this.

But even if this ambitious goal is achieved, Williams would miss the originally set targets for 2026. Because they actually wanted to close the gap to the top teams, which even the boldest optimists in Grove probably no longer consider possible.

Sainz: Positively surprised in 2025, negatively in 2026

Carlos Sainz also reveals: “Of course, looking ahead to 2026, I assumed that we – if at all – might either maintain our previous level or make a small step forward thanks to the longer development time for the 2026 car and the new rules.”

Therefore, it was “neither part of my plans nor my expectations” to have only six points at the summer break. “I think I was very open and clear that we exceeded my expectations in 2025,” says Sainz.

The results in his first Williams season were “if anything even better” than what “I expected when I signed my contract with Williams in 2024,” emphasizes the Spaniard and explains: “The 2025 car was a very good car.”

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The FW47 was a car “that was sometimes only three or four tenths away from pole position, a car where you felt the balance was right,” reports Sainz, who therefore admits: “As a team, we are further from the front than we thought at the end of 2025.”

Williams comeback “naturally needs time”

Because the FW48 has been struggling with overweight and other shortcomings since the start of the season. “It was definitely a character-building year for the whole team, and it opened our eyes a bit to how much work still lies ahead if we want to even think about keeping up with a top team in the future,” emphasizes Sainz.

“We have to take stock and understand why and what happened. I think we now have a pretty good understanding of it. The ability to turn things around is there, but in Formula 1, that naturally takes time,” he knows.

“It requires time, effort, money within the budget cap, and extensive analysis – and that is exactly where we are right now,” explains the former Ferrari and McLaren driver, who, like his teammate, feels set back by several years.

In his personal plans, the 2026 season was a setback “by one or two years,” reveals Sainz, who himself is not yet sure how big the blow really is. “It depends on how quickly we manage to recover from this situation,” he emphasizes.

Are Sainz and Albon losing patience?

“Of course, I had a timeframe in mind that I was willing to accept to help this team get back on the path to success, and how long I was willing to wait until we could fight for wins again,” says Sainz, who came to Williams from Ferrari for the 2025 season.

At that time, he also had offers from other teams but deliberately chose Williams. Some observers therefore suspect that the four-time Grand Prix winner could leave the Grove team again in the near future if no improvement in the current situation is in sight.

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Sainz confirms: “I have to realign my mindset to imagine where I will be in three to four years and make a decision. But I am still convinced of the path and the project we are working on,” he also makes clear.

He sees “how the team is investing in the future. I still consider the team’s vision to be quite clear. I see how much is happening behind the scenes when you put aside the current performance of the car, and that continues to give me confidence and motivation that we are on the right track.”

Teammate Albon probably puts it quite aptly when he says that the hoped-for way back to the top will now “take a little bit longer.” The future will show whether he and especially Sainz are willing to continue on this path under the new circumstances.

Read more Driver frustrated: Williams set back by several years