Carlos Sainz highlights Williams 'realisation' after early F1 2026 setback

Carlos Sainz has highlighted Williams' slow start to the current F1 season has served as a reminder that its systems are not yet up to scratch.

Williams opted to skip the Barcelona shakedown event last month after running into various issues in the build up to the campaign.

Having been forced to watch on as its F1 rivals hit the track for the first time, Williams made its debut in Bahrain last week.

It did its best to make up for lost time and logged 414 laps across the three days - the highest tally out of all the teams.

But as it attempts to recuperate from its absence in Barcelona, Sainz asserted the situation demonstrated how far Williams still needs to go to compete at the front of the field.

“I wouldn't say the confidence is damaged,” Sainz told media including RacingNews365. 

“It's more a realisation that there are still multiple areas where even if we were podium finishers last year, P5 in the championship, we're still not at the level of where we want to be in terms of comparing ourselves with top teams and the way they execute their winters, their preparations, their change of set of regulations.”

Williams team boss James Vowles has long asserted the Grove-based squad's journey back to the front of the grid will be a long-term process.

It's a timeline that Sainz understands, as he stated: "We know there's a massive margin of improvement in many, many areas.

“When I came to Williams, I knew this was going to be the case and I'm here for trying to help in every area."

Sainz will return to the cockpit this week in Bahrain for the final test of the year ahead of the opening round in Australia.