Williams to resort to 'sticking plasters' for Carlos Sainz Alex Albon car issues

James Vowles feels Williams has nothing more than "a series of sticking plasters" to use in its bid to deal with an inherent problem with its F1 car.

Williams has started the new season strongly, scoring 19 points over the first four grands prix, more than it achieved across all of last year with a record-breaking calendar of 24 races.

But whilst the car has performed reasonably so far, certainly in the hands of Alex Albon as new team-mate Carlos Sainz continues to become accustomed to its quirks, both drivers have experienced a particular handling difficulty, through slow corners especially.

It was a point noted by Sainz in his media session at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit on Thursday to preview this weekend's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

When pressed on the matter, however, he opted not to go into detail, instead suggesting he would have to speak to Vowles first to ascertain whether he could expand in a later session.

Asked about Sainz's remarks and what he could say, speaking to the media, including RacingNews365, Vowles said: "We have some characteristics in the car that are still not at the right level.

"I don't think we have the balance that we should have for the drivers, and we're a little bit cornered on some of the tools that we're using at the moment.

"The great thing about Carlos is that both he and Alex are aligned on their thought process, so we have good direction.

"You get a problem when both drivers are, or even one is using it as a tool to distract. We're not. Both are very clear on where the problems are.

"I think [there are] some elements that we can bring in line this year. Some of it, however, is a different direction that we need to take for the future.

"So, answering the question, why is it a problem? I think our balance is just not where it needs to be for the drivers to get the most out of the car, and it's a difficult car to drive."   

Asked by RacingNews365 whether the problem could be ironed out this year at all given the team's focus has already switched to the 2026 major regulation changes, Vowles added: "My feeling is that we'll be able to scratch it, but not fix it.

"I think we have a series of sticking plasters we can put on it now. That's already a good thing, because it means that inherently, we are touching the right element of things, we're pulling the right strings, and that for fixing it, we need to make sure we're fixing absolutely the right element.

"But I do not think we can inherently fix it in 2025."