The 2025 Australian Grand Prix could be a serious reality check for Carlos Sainz.
While Sainz was battling Lando Norris for victory at last season’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Williams were battling to try and add to their measly points tally.
Franco Colapinto’s final race for the team ended after just 26 laps when his engine failed.
He had previously been crashed into by Oscar Piastri and after such a promising start to his Formula 1 career, he failed to make much progress after starting at the back of the grid.
His teammate Alex Albon fared better despite also being eliminated in Q1 that weekend.
The Anglo-Thai driver narrowly failed to finish in the points, with a resurgent Piastri able to overtake him in the final laps as he had to settle for P11.
Williams eventually finished ninth in the constructors’ championship, averaging less than a point per race and only outperforming Sauber.
Team principal James Vowles has warned that Williams may need to sacrifice 2025 in order to concentrate on the next set of Formula 1 regulations.
However, Sainz has been impressed by Williams during his early days with the team and there’s a belief that there are plenty of easy wins that designers and engineers can tackle this winter to give them a boost in 2025.
A report from Marca has shared what Sainz and Williams’ aims are for this season and they believe that one of the sport’s strongest midfield teams could be catchable over the next few months.
Williams believe they can beat Aston Martin during the 2025 F1 season
The report from the Spanish outlet suggests that the upcoming FW47 is likely to be faster than last year’s car, but that’s completely relative depending on how their rivals fare.
Williams and Sainz won’t expect to be challenging for victories, but instead believe that Aston Martin are their main targets during 2025.
The £1.6bn-valued F1 team had a torrid season last year, failing to understand many of the update packages that they delivered as the season went on.
READ MORE: Williams driver Carlos Sainz’s life outside F1 from full name, girlfriend and height
Fernando Alonso was getting increasingly frustrated with Aston Martin, while Lance Stroll is currently on the longest point-less streak of any driver on the grid.
Alpine and Haas will also be Williams’ rivals this year although there’s little hope for Sauber ahead of Audi’s takeover in 2026.
Williams are targeting scoring points on a regular basis, which would be an upgrade on 2024 when they only scored points in back-to-back races once (Monza and Baku).
Remarkably, Marca reports that Williams don’t believe that podiums are out of the question for this year as they believe Alpine’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix performance is the inspiration for a one-off fight with the sport’s front-runners.
Aston Martin may be realistic target for Williams with all eyes on the 2026 F1 season
It was a disappointing campaign for Aston Martin even if they managed to score 77 more points than Williams last year.
Mike Krack has changed roles ahead of this season and Dan Fallows moved into a new role after being put under pressure by Lawrence Stroll.
However, Aston Martin’s new state-of-the-art factory is close to completion and a star-studded list of technical staff headed by Adrian Newey will begin working with the team over the coming months.
READ MORE: All to know about Aston Martin F1 Team from team principal to lineage
It’s hard to see Aston Martin taking huge strides forward this winter, particularly as it would make much more sense for the Silverstone-based team to concentrate their resources on 2026.
However, the fact that Aston Martin want to sign Max Verstappen for next year highlights just how ambitious they are going into F1’s next era of regulations.
Williams may get the upper hand on Aston Martin this year, but it would be a much more impressive feat if they could outpace Stroll’s team in 12 months’ time.
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