Carlos Sainz is now on the fifth Formula 1 team of his career at Williams but has not yet truly found his feet since joining from Ferrari, with Alex Albon leading the Grove outfit.
The Scuderia opting against offering Sainz a new contract beyond the 2024 F1 season saw multiple teams eye the Spaniard cast aside to make way for Lewis Hamilton at Maranello. In the end, Williams won the race for a deal after Sainz rejected interest from Alpine and Audi.
Ferrari saw the best of what Sainz has so far achieved in Formula 1, with the Madrid native securing four Grand Prix wins, six pole positions and 25 podiums with the pride of Italy. He has only taken two podium finishes with other teams to date and both were with McLaren.
Christian Danner thinks Carlos Sainz ‘imagined’ he’d replace Alex Albon as Williams’ team leader
Sainz’s best result as a Williams driver to date is also only eighth place in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. It is one of three point-scoring finishes he has so far penned after six rounds for the Grove crew after sealing P10 in the Chinese Grand Prix and P9 in the Miami Grand Prix.
READ MORE: Williams star Carlos Sainz’s life outside F1 from full name, girlfriend and height
Contact with Williams teammate Albon at the start of last weekend’s Miami GP also did not help Sainz. The Spaniard tagged the London-born Thai’s rear-right tyre and took substantial damage to his left-hand floor edge, while compromised without a new set of medium tyres.
Also, Albon ignored Williams’ orders and overtook Sainz in Miami en route to coming home in fifth place. Sainz had out-qualified Albon for the third consecutive Grand Prix in Miami with P6 and P7, which showed Christian Danner that the 30-year-old has rediscovered his speed.
Yet Danner feels the way Williams have operated since Sainz joined from Ferrari is not what the Spaniard would have ‘imagined’, having expected to be made the new team leader over Albon. Instead, it has been the reverse, with Albon stepping up to Sainz’s arrival at Williams.
“Sainz is now fast again and on par with Albon,” Danner told sport.de. “I think he’s still a bit behind his fame as a Ferrari driver and Grand Prix winner. It’s difficult to find his way back into the midfield now.
“He probably imagined it would be a bit more Sainz-centric at Williams. But you have to give him credit for making great progress since the start of the season. He’s settled in quickly within the team overall.”
Alex Albon has stepped up to the challenge Carlos Sainz threw down by joining Williams
Sainz joining Williams after four years at Ferrari, where he was regularly a match for Charles Leclerc, was expected to put Albon under pressure to perform. The 29-year-old had not had a competitive partner since joining Williams in 2022 with Nicholas Latifi and Logan Sargeant.
READ MORE: Williams star Alex Albon’s life outside F1 with net worth, girlfriend to parents
But while David Coulthard backed Sainz to put Albon under ‘pressure’, the London-born Thai has rarely shown it. Instead, he has scored 30 points to the Spaniard’s seven since Coulthard suggested 2025 is ‘make or break’ for Albon if Sainz can dominate him at Williams this term.
But while Sainz showed he is finding his speed at Williams in Miami by out-qualifying Albon, the Madrid native is yet to transfer it into results. He led the Grove crew in qualifying across the Bahrain, Saudi Arabian and Miami Grands Prix, but finished behind Albon in all but one.
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