James Vowles says ‘incredible’ Carlos Sainz has done something that isn’t normal at Williams factory

It has been a mixed start to life at Williams for Carlos Sainz, having only scored 11 points compared to teammate Alex Albon’s 40 points.

Sainz crashed out of the first race with the team after making a mistake in the wet conditions under Safety Car, while he collided with Yuki Tsunoda in Bahrain and was forced to retire.

Williams have enjoyed an improved start to the season, with Sainz and Albon regularly qualifying inside the top 10 places on the grid. In Miami, they managed to beat Ferrari, although Sainz was left with a bitter taste after the race because Albon had ignored team orders at the start.

Albon was also close to a podium in Imola, having regretted fighting Charles Leclerc for fourth while knowing Oscar Piastri’s ageing tyres presented an opportunity.

Williams’ performance on track has been the result of work behind the scenes, with team principal James Vowles highlighting one thing Sainz has done that he’s never seen from a driver before in an interview with Mundo Deportivo.

James Vowles says Carlos Sainz has an ‘incredible’ work ethic

Sainz joined Williams from Ferrari, having been ousted by the Italian outfit in favour of Lewis Hamilton last year.

The Spaniard knew he would be in an inferior car, plus Williams have shifted focus to 2026, but that has not stopped him from extracting every last ounce of performance to achieve results, according to Vowles.

“The great thing about Carlos is that he has an incredible work ethic. He works every minute of the day. Even when we finished the race between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, he called me on Monday, he called me on Tuesday, he was in meetings with me on Wednesday. So yeah, it’s really an incredible work ethic. His culture and his values,” said Vowles.

When asked if he had any examples of Sainz doing something extraordinary in the factory, Vowles highlighted one moment when he found the Spaniard in their factory having flown in without telling him.

“He flew in early, and when I found him, he was sitting in the aerodynamics department with the whole aerodynamics team. He was meeting for an hour and a half, alone, going through things, and he said things like, ‘I felt this in the car. Can you show me where it is in the data? Take a look here. This is what I’ll be looking at.’

“Normally, you almost have to ask the drivers to please walk around the factory with me, take a look around, and accompany them the whole way. But Sainz goes there, meets with the aerodynamics team on his own, and sits with them.”

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Williams have scaled back upgrades to their car as they shift focus to 2026

Williams are one of the first teams that shifted focus to developing their 2026 car, after F1 teams were given the green light in January to commence work on their chassis.

Sainz was warned about the potential impact this could have on Williams’ competitiveness in 2025, but so far it appears the team have stayed competitive.

This could change as teams bring upgrades to their cars at the European races, with Ferrari also set to bring upgrades to their cars that might impact Williams’ fortunes.

Williams’ focus on 2026 also means they will only be bringing new parts to their cars that haven’t been through the wind tunnel, as that is now fully focused on next year’s machine.