Carlos Sainz is in a “very, very uncomfortable” situation at Williams having fallen so far behind team-mate Alex Albon on points in the F1 2025 season.

That is the opinion of Nico Rosberg, the 2016 World Champion and Sky F1 pundit, who is hoping that the former Ferrari driver will soon “find his feet” at his new team.

Nico Rosberg: Carlos Sainz in ‘very, very uncomfortable’ situation at Williams

Sainz joined Williams ahead of the F1 2025 season having been forced to make way for seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari at the end of last year.

The signing of Sainz, a four-time race winner, was heralded as a major coup for Williams and team principal James Vowles.

With nine races of the season completed, however, the Grove-based team are yet to see the best of Sainz, who has required time to adapt to the FW47 car.

Carlos Sainz vs Alex Albon: Williams head-to-head scores for F1 2025

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Sainz currently trails Albon – in his fourth full season as a Williams driver – by 30 points ahead of next weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix.

The 30-year-old had shown signs of promise over recent weeks, claiming four consecutive points finishes between the Saudi Arabian and Monaco grands prix.

However, Sainz suffered a setback at his home race in Barcelona last weekend as he fell in Q1 before finishing a distant 14th on race day.

Rosberg, who began his F1 career with Williams in 2006 before securing a move to Mercedes for 2010, believes Sainz will find it “very, very uncomfortable” to be so far behind Albon at such an early stage of the season.

He told Sky F1: “It’s not been the easiest of starts to the season.

“Alex has done a fantastic job. We’ve seen the flashes of brilliance from Carlos, but it’s been a bit up and down.

“And also, especially if you look at the points now, he is very, very far behind Alex on the points.

“That’s very, very uncomfortable for him to be in that kind of situation.

“But we know he’s a great driver so I’m sure he’ll find his feet there within the team and get going.

“I think the rest of the season should be a good one, but Alex Albon has been impressive.”

Sainz himself has frequently pointed to the lack of pre-season testing in modern F1 as a key factor behind his slow start to the season, with teams limited to three days of official running in Bahrain – split between both drivers – ahead of the opening race.

Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com in February, Sainz described the compressed testing schedule as “ridiculous” and called for F1 to make more of an “effort” to provide up to 10 days of pre-season running.

Upon F1’s return to the Bahrain circuit in April, Sainz confessed that he already knew he was “nowhere near” the level required even when he set the fastest time of all on the second day of pre-season testing in Sakhir.

Rosberg has empathised with Sainz’s complaints, arguing that the challenge of adapting to a new car at short notice is not to be dismissed.

He said: “Unfortunately, nowadays you have so little time to practice with a certain new car.

“They have three days of testing and and then that’s it. We mustn’t underestimate that because your car is your home and you can only be fast if you feel super comfortable and confident.

“And it does take a bit of time until you get that in a new car.

“Even the steering wheel is different, the feel is lighter, throttle pedal, the way the engine [works], everything is a little bit different. so it does take some time.”

More on Carlos Sainz and Williams from PlanetF1.com

👉 Carlos Sainz news

👉 Williams news

Rosberg’s comments come after Sainz revealed that he has come to his “own conclusions” over why he was overlooked by the likes of Red Bull and Mercedes for an F1 2025 seat.

Sainz was linked with almost every team on the grid following the news of his Ferrari exit last year before announcing his switch to Williams in July.

Asked why he was not seriously considered by a race-winning team, Sainz said: “I’ve come to my own conclusions. But I’ll keep them to myself.

“I believe the people in F1 know perfectly well why certain choices are made – I don’t need to explain it in front of a microphone.

“So I told myself: if I can’t join a top team, I’ll help build one.

“At Williams, I saw the potential to start a great story.

“I spoke at length with James [Vowles, team principal] about the project he had in mind and I decided to bet on Williams because it seemed like the best opportunity to build a top team.

“Six months into this journey, I can say I’m even more convinced than when I signed.

“We’re all working 100 per cent to achieve this goal.”

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