Sainz sets clear Williams target to sustain F1 success

Carlos Sainz has outlined his vision of what progress at Williams looks like throughout the 2025 F1 season, dismantling the notion it can or will be seen in the constructors' standings.

The Spaniard joined the Grove-based squad from Ferrari at the end of last year and impressed during pre-season testing in Bahrain.

His performance in the FW47 over the three-day trip to the Gulf nation included setting the fastest outright time and setting tongues wagging in the F1 paddock.

Williams - and, in particular, team principal James Vowles - has long maintained the next regulations cycle, which starts in 2026, is the point at which the team is aiming to return to competitiveness.

But there is the growing sentiment throughout F1 that Williams might be ahead of its scheduled trajectory, a considerable departure from the backwards step the team took last term when it slipped from seventh to ninth.

This was underlined in Williams' performance over the season-opening Australian Grand Prix weekend, with Sainz and team-mate Alex Albon qualifying 10th and sixth respectively.

Unfortunately for Sainz, due to the wet conditions at Melbourne's Albert Park, he crashed out on the opening lap due to an issue with the car rather than his own making. Albon, however, took the chequered flag in fifth.

When it was put to Sainz that it took his new team eight rounds to score points in the previous campaign, the Spaniard quickly pivoted to what he believes is more crucial to determining positive development for the nine-time constructors' champions.

"I’m definitely going to do my best to score them as soon as possible, but I don’t know when that’s going to be," the 30-year-old replied to media, including RacingNews365, when asked if it will take as long this year.

"That statistic isn’t the most important... Progress means being more competitive, fixing the things we didn’t get right last year."

Sainz: 'I see people full of motivation...'

Sainz pinpointed a couple of critical areas in which the team has taken steps forward, underscoring the impact it has had on motivation throughout the entire Williams crew - and what that can, in turn, help sustain.

"So far, everything has been positive - reliability, the weight of the car, just simple things that maybe in the past, Williams wasn’t getting spot on," the four-time grand prix winner explained.

"This year, it’s been the case, and that’s exactly what I mean by progress - happy faces, happy people.

"I see people full of motivation and that’s what I care about the most because that’s what’s going to sustain medium to long-term success."