Carlos Sainz reckons he proved doubters wrong after good first F1 season with Williams following on from Ferrari, as he stressed on growth.
Having finished inside the Top 10 with two F1 podiums when he imagined none with Williams in his first season after moving on from Ferrari, it ended up being a solid first year in a midfield team. In fact, the Grove-based outfit finished just one place behind his predecessor, who were fourth.
In many ways, Sainz proved his doubters wrong and showcased that he can deliver anywhere if given the right car. The Spaniard exceeded his own expectations in the process and achieved whatever he could – given the car – leaving only a victory out of bounds in the end.
He took Williams to be a better step along with Alexander Albon, even though the car was more of an evolution from 2024 than something Sainz built. “My season? I think it’s a season to be proud of,” he said to media. “I think many people when I left Ferrari for Williams at the end of last year doubted the move and there were doubts surrounding my future and the way I was going.
“I think after this year is very clear to everyone that I come to a project that is hungry to get back to winning ways. I’ve got back to podium ways earlier than expected. I think earlier than what people and even myself expected. Now the next target is to go back to winning ways and I think I’m in the right place at the right time to do that.
“The only thing I do is urge the team to keep pushing, keeping it all because I see the potential. But in this sport, progress one year doesn’t mean progress the next year. So you need to keep being hungry, keep being disciplined and keep pushing harder than ever to make sure that next year we get one of those. I mean you always have high expectations.
“But for sure the expectations were something that I really tried to control before coming into this year, knowing that there was going to be obviously a reset in my results and what was possibly achievable in my first year in Williams, but like I said after the race, if you would have told me before the year when I signed my Williams contract in August 2024 that there was going to be a couple of podiums, a sprint podium and this upward trend, I would have definitely taken it there.
“So yeah, first of all, credit to Williams because we put on track, they designed a car during 2025 that was already a big step forward in terms of what the car could do from the first race and the first test, it was a massive step forward to the car of 2024 and that is only great for them because there I can have very little influence.
“And then very good development through the year, we only brought one small upgrade during the year, but even if the upgrade was small and it was effective, as a team we still managed to develop the car with set-up, understanding, with getting to know each other and together with Alex I think we followed the right direction,” summed up Albon.
When asked in specific about his season and step-by-step growth, Sainz elaborated on where he could step up his game. He had pace in the first half but the luck never really went with him, when Albon made the most of it. Things changed especially from Baku when he got the podium.
The Thai faced luck issues when Sainz could secure the results. The balance eventually helped Williams to secure fifth in the championship by a good margin. “I’m getting good, I’m getting to a point where I’m happy with this car and I understand it,” he continued. “I’ve been quick from the beginning of the year, as I said, but now we’re starting to put things together much better.
“I know usually you need time to extract the most of a car and the team. You’ve seen it with everyone that has changed teams. But keeping my head down, even if the results were not coming, now I think I’m at a very high level with this car. You saw it in the wet there in Vegas. You’ve seen it in the quali in Baku. I did two really strong qualis in Austin and Mexico, really strong race paces.
“So yeah, my season has definitely clicked and I’m confident that we will be going into next year with an evolution of this car. I could be even stronger, but especially because the car would have a bit of an input from me and what I need from the car. Already this year, I think I’ve managed to take the car a bit to a happier place for me, for my driving.
“And now I’m driving a car that I understand a bit better and I can drive a bit better. So it’s been a good work. A tough year because the results were difficult to digest, difficult to accept in a lot of times. But again, I haven’t missed volumes, I haven’t missed race wins…I’ve just missed P8s, P9s, P6s. So, I’m calm about that and now just looking forward to next year,” summed up Sainz.
Here’s Williams showing Barcelona livery
Here’s Alexander Albon on winning mini championship
