Carlos Sainz shifts Williams focus after early season pain

Carlos Sainz has stated that he is putting added focus on taking “little wins” as Williams endure a challenging start to the campaign.

The Grove-based squad has long labelled the 2026 regulation change as an opportunity to make significant gains up the grid.

However, it has instead endured a slump towards the back of the grid as it deals with a car that is overweight and lacking performance to rival teams.

Although Sainz managed to score points last time out in China, Williams remains in a challenging position in the order and has a steep development hill ahead of it.

When asked if Williams has to stay positive and look to the good moments ahead, Sainz replied: “We have to.

“I have to, because, if not, the year is going to be too long.

“I'm going to have to focus on the little wins or the small gains that we can do as a team.

“Because clearly what we've come up for this first half of the season is not going to be enough to even get out of Q1.”

Both Sainz and team-mate Alex Albon failed to escape the Q1 drop zone in Shanghai, cementing the significance of its current issues.

Although Sainz held the belief it could make it out of the first segment, he acknowledged there is little the team has to fight with in its current position. 

“I thought [in China] it was a good lap enough to go through to Q2, but we know where the weight would put us in the time sheets,” he said.

“At the same time, I feel like it's not only weight. We need to do big steps in performance if we want to show our value, and keep digging.”