Carlos Sainz pinpoints 'fundamental' mission after Williams 'vindication'

Carlos Sainz insists it is "fundamental" that Williams continue on its "upward trajectory" in F1 next season, despite the impending regulations reset.

The Spanish driver feels he has already had "vindication" for his decision to join the Grove-based outfit, but is adamant the nine-time constructors' champion must maintain its recovery from F1 obscurity back to relevance.

Though consistently competitive in the early 2000s, and for a few seasons at the advent of the turbo-hybrid era on account of its Mercedes power units, Williams has not won a title since 1997, when it won both crowns with Jacques Villeneuve as drivers' champion and Heinz-Harald Frentzen as his team-mate.

Having spent the past few seasons at the nadir of its time in F1, Williams jumped up to fifth in the constructors' standings in 2025.

Alex Albon put together an impressive opening half of the campaign, whilst new team-mate Sainz found his feet. But over the final eight rounds of the season, the four-time grand prix winner outscored the Thai driver 48 points to three, including two grand prix podiums and a sprint top three.

Ending the year with a combined 137 points, that mark is 53 more than the team had scored in total since the start of 2018 to the end of 2024.

"If you told me at the beginning of the year that there was going to be fifth position for Williams at the end of the championship, a good step forward, closing the gap to the top teams, and a couple of podiums, I would have taken it," Sainz told F1.com. "It’s been a good year overall."

"Also, when I signed with Williams in the summer of 2024, if I would have told people that I’m joining them because these results are going to happen, they wouldn’t have fully believed me.

"I have the results now to back why I chose this team – a vindication."

'Unpredictable' times ahead

After Sainz lost his Ferrari seat to Lewis Hamilton in early 2024, he became the hottest property in that year's F1 driver market.

He eventually settled on Williams and the transformation it is undergoing with team principal James Vowles, whose long-term project is centred around bringing the team — and its facilities and infrastructure — up to contemporary standards.

Everything has been geared towards the new era of chassis and power unit rules. However, Sainz is acutely aware of the step into the unknown facing the entire F1 paddock.

To the 31-year-old, who is nonetheless confident about the new dawn, it is paramount that the team does not falter.

"The team is on an upward trajectory, and it’s fundamental to continue that trajectory – it’s important to keep showing progress, to not stall that progress that we are showing," he explained.

"Having said that, with such a big change of regulations, that progress might look different next year, because it’s going to be so unpredictable to know where everyone’s going to be.

"But I trust what the team is doing, I trust all the efforts that we’ve been putting into next year’s car through all the simulator sessions and all the development work.

"I’m feeling positive. I’m relatively happy and confident about it, but with the impossibility to say more than, 'I don’t know where we’re going to be'."