Williams strongly deny wild Sainz rumour

Williams team principal James Vowles has addressed wild rumours that the difference in performance so far this season between Carlos Sainz and team-mate Alex Albon is due to them using different specifications of chassis.

Sainz's arrival has long been heralded by Vowles, insisting he has one of the best driver pairings on the F1 grid after the Spaniard's move from Ferrari.

But it has been a tricky start to life at Williams for Sainz. He was out-qualified in the season-opening race in Australia by Albon and unfortunately crashed on the opening lap of the wet race due to an issue not of his making.

A week later, at the Shanghai International Circuit, Sainz was twice beaten in qualifying by Albon for the sprint and grand prix. The average gap between them so far this year is 0.452s.

Sainz at least salvaged a point from the Chinese Grand Prix, albeit only after disqualifications for Ferrari duo Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, and Alpine's Pierre Gasly.

It prompted suggestions that Sainz was running last year's chassis, with Albon on a new-spec. Vowles is adamant that nothing could be further from the truth.

"A clear statement on this one," said Vowles. "Both Alex and Carlos are using exactly the same equipment, the same chassis, the same front wings, the same gearboxes. Everything is of the same specification and standard.

"More specifically, the question was, are we running the '24 chassis with Carlos? I'll expand on that.

"Both drivers are running an evolution of last year's chassis that's evolved the same way. We always intended to go through this sequence of regulation, the last year of regulation, making sure we are evolving last year's chassis rather than redesigning from scratch.

"And that's really important because it allows us to put our eggs in an investment basket for 2026 and beyond.

"This is not a financial question. It's a time resource, we're all up against the cost cap. It allows us to re-optimise and make sure we're getting everything for '26 that we can out of it."

With Williams scoring the same number of points in two races this season as it did over the entirety of last year's 24 grands prix, Vowles feels the evolutionary development of last year's chassis is reaping its rewards. 

"We knew there was quite a bit of potential within the chassis," he added. "As a result of that, as you can see, we've moved up the field, and there's more performance to come from the package we have at the moment.

"I would also add that I think a number of teams on the grid have done something quite similar to what we've done. Not all, but most will have done.

"So answering the question very specifically, both drivers are using exactly the same things - an evolution of the '24 chassis."