As Carlos Sainz continues to search for a performance breakthrough at Williams, the Japanese Grand Prix marks a major step.

And that is because the four-time grand prix winner is going to switch up his driving style at Suzuka, as he looks to turn potential “theories” over his slow start to Williams life into reality.

Carlos Sainz at Williams: Japanese GP to yield breakthrough?

Sainz arrived at Williams as a marquee signing, the Spaniard penning a multi-year deal after losing his place at Ferrari to seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton, with Williams setting their sights on running at the front of the grid once more when the new regulations arrive for 2026.

However, it has been a difficult start to Williams life for Sainz, who is yet to outqualify team-mate Alex Albon, while his first point for the team last time out in China only arrived thanks to disqualifications for Ferrari’s Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, plus Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.

So, Sainz arrives at Suzuka looking to experiment.

“We were quick in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi and in the dry in Australia until Q3, then we have a problem at the race,” Sainz told DAZN.

“In China we weren’t quick, we were missing two, three tenths each lap in the race and that’s what we have been paying attention to.

“China is a very particular track, with a particular asphalt and there was something not working with the Williams.

“We’re working in changing my driving style for this kind of circuit and asphalt. And changing the car as well, to adapt it in my direction and paying attention to what worked in Bahrain.

“With these experiences and theories, we’ll face Suzuka with excitement and motivation to see if we can take that step forward.”

Speaking to media ahead of the race weekend, Sainz went into further detail on his use of the term “theories” for how he can step it up at Williams.

“I think they remain theories until I do a step on pace and performance,” he explained. “I think if I this weekend or next weekend, or in this next three triple-header, I managed to do a good step in the right direction, that’s when theories are confirmed.

“Until then, I will be trying things, trying stuff, to find that performance, which comes, obviously, from the theories that we managed to put together after these seven, ten days.

“I’ll be trying some different stuff here with my driving and different compromises with car setup, and see if they work, and if not, back to the drawing board. Try different things until we keep finding where that lap time is.”

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Sainz believes there are certain traits which he developed to drive Ferrari machinery as fast as possible which have followed him to Williams, and are not helping his cause.

Asked if he thinks it is a set-up thing more than driving style behind his early Williams struggles, Sainz added: “I think it’s a combination of both.

“I was used to a certain type of car in Ferrari, which made me end up driving, especially since 2022, on a very specific way to extract everything about that car, and you fall into, let’s say, habits in your driving, that then you apply to the next car.

“And it might work in some corners, but in others, it makes you very weak. And that’s probably a bit of it.

“And then there’s also a side of set-up that can help me driving the way I like to drive a car and we’re also working on that. So it’s probably uniting both.

“It’s just putting together the corners that they’re all the type of corner that you think your driving style still should work, and we need to work on set-up, and then the other type of corner where you just need to completely forget about that and change your driving style back to the car that I’m driving.

“The car has completely different strengths and weaknesses to the car that I used to be driving for three years and adapted for three years, and I was so quick with last year.

“So that’s more or less the point, that you approach the corner in a way, expect the car to do something, and then you need to completely reverse engineer and say, ‘Okay, start from zero. This is not the way you approach’.

“But to do that in a test is pretty easy, because you feel it. But when you put a new set of tyres bang on in qualifying and you keep attacking, that’s where you need to be extremely disciplined, and that’s what is always going to take a bit of time to adjust and to extract the most out of myself and the car.”

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