Carlos Sainz is slowly adjusting to life in a Williams and has shown signs of improvement during the 2025 Formula 1 season.
The Spaniard has five points from the opening five races in a much-improved Williams car. Already his team have become the first to focus all of their resources on the 2026 F1 regulations.
That means few or no more updates for the rest of this campaign, as they exhaust their energy on a possible Sainz or Alex Albon title charge for next year.
Winning the drivers’ championship is something the Grove-based outfit have not done for nearly 30 years, with their last victory now being 13 years ago.
Sainz relies ‘a lot’ on Albon to succeed and has already developed a good relationship with his new teammate.
After a tricky period to start the season, Albon told Sainz to ‘adapt’ and he has been a little quicker since, including his best result of the year recently at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
READ MORE: Carlos Sainz must ‘reverse-engineer’ one part of his driving style for Williams’ F1 car, ‘start from scratch’
Carlos Sainz wants to win a Formula 1 title with Williams like Alain Prost
James Vowles compared Sainz to a famous Ferrari victory after securing a solid points haul in Jeddah with eighth.
It was the first time that he had beaten his new teammate in a race where both drivers ran a normal program.
Williams may want to challenge for the 2026 F1 title, but it still feels like they have a lot of work to do. The infrastructure they now have in place will be vital for them, after significant investment.
Speaking to F1ingenerale, Sainz revealed that he harbours hopes of winning a title with Williams, much like Alain Prost did back in 1993.
“I am not focused on the short term but on a long-term project. I know that our best chance of winning will be next year or the year after that,” he said.
“If I didn’t believe I could fight for a world title [with Williams] in the future, I wouldn’t be here.”
READ MORE: Carlos Sainz told he’s dealing with ‘unusual’ problem at Williams he’s never faced before in his Formula 1 career
Is Carlos Sainz the favourite to win a Formula 1 title at Williams?
Although Albon is established with Williams and has been with them for a while, he is yet to have a really strong teammate.
Sainz started the year poorly, but is now showing signs that he could be a big threat to his Thai colleague, now that he is getting used to his new machinery.
Arguably, Ferrari should’ve kept him and after Lewis Hamilton’s early struggles, it looks as though it may have been the wrong decision.
However, his new team are the beneficiaries of race-winning talent and should be able to take advantage of that in the future.
His experience at the top is why he should be tipped over Albon to claim a title first, if they ever have the car capable of doing so.
