Williams showed signs of recovery at the Miami Formula 1 GP, but Carlos Sainz believes the team’s real turnaround will still take time. Even after the first consistent result of the season, the Spaniard stated that the team’s full evolution should only appear in the final third of the championship.
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This stage in Miami represented an important step for the Grove team. Sainz finished ninth, while his teammate, Alexander Albon, crossed the finish line in tenth, securing double points for Williams after a difficult start to the season.
There was great expectation around the team for 2026, especially after the competitive performance shown in 2025, and the arrival of the Mercedes power unit for the new technical era of Formula 1. However, the FW48 started the championship above the ideal weight, which greatly limited competitiveness in the first three rounds.
Williams brought important updates to Miami, including aerodynamic changes and weight reduction on the car. Despite the progress, Sainz highlighted that the project still needs time to reach the expected level: “It will take a few months to complete this recovery,” said the Spaniard.
The driver believes the situation will only change more noticeably near the end of the season: “I think we will need to reach the last third of the championship to see a real turnaround,” said Sainz. Still, he praised the initial effect of the new parts. “At least the updates work. The car’s weight decreased a bit, but we know there is still a lot missing.”
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James Vowles, team principal, also showed confidence in the path taken by Williams. According to him, the team worked on about thirty performance projects in the five weeks prior to the Miami GP, including a new floor, revised bodywork, rear suspension modifications, and operational improvements behind the scenes.
Vowles highlighted that new updates are already planned for the upcoming races, including the Canadian GP: “I am satisfied with what we have in our pipeline, but we don’t know what others have,” he said. The director warned that teams like Mercedes, Audi, and Haas should also introduce improvements in the next stages.
Despite recent progress, Williams still recognizes that it is behind the main competitors in the midfield pack. According to Vowles, Alpine remains the fifth force on the grid at this moment: “We still need to find a few tenths compared to them,” he said.
However, the director believes the development plan will put the team in a more comfortable position after the mid-season break: “When all this work is completed, we should reach a point where we will be scoring consistently every weekend,” he added.
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