Carlos Sainz asked his new Williams colleagues to “be obsessed” with every marginal improvement they can make, as “it’s going to make the difference” in future.

Sainz made the move from Ferrari to the Grove-based team ahead of the 2025 season on a multi-year deal, where he is set to partner Alex Albon.

Carlos Sainz issues ‘be obsessed’ call with Williams’ 2026 car in wind tunnel

Williams released behind-the-scenes footage of Sainz’s first day at their Grove base, where he undertook a seat fit, simulator work and met staff at the factory.

Within that, he also addressed the team in an interview with team principal James Vowles, at which point Vowles declared their 2026 car, the FW48, was already in the wind tunnel being developed, with all teams’ restrictions having been lifted on creating their cars for Formula 1’s mass regulation changes from next season.

With Williams having fallen on leaner times in recent years compared to their illustrious history, Sainz has previously said he is targeting the regulation changes as the year in which the team will be able to make a bigger leap forward, and when giving a message to staff, asked them to “be obsessed” with striving to improve every possible detail on their car, as every small gain will add up over time.

“I cannot wait to start working,” he said.

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“I can tell you that a Formula 1 team nowadays, at the level that Ferrari is running, there’s an obsession by every single individual right there right now going for the last tenth, last hundredth of a second – and that’s a team that is struggling to beat other teams like McLaren, Mercedes or Red Bull. So the level at the front of the field right now is extremely high.

“That 1200 people that work in Ferrari, I don’t know exactly a number in Williams, you can tell they have the passion for winning, but they are obsessed with the tenth of a second, obsessed with a hundredth of a second, obsessed with the minimal detail of every single piece of the car.

“So from here, I want to motivate you all you know every single individual here that that last tenth will make the difference.

“If you add up all these milliseconds, trust me, it will pay off on track – and I have no doubts that all that you guys are all as capable as anyone at the front of the field.

“So together, let’s go be obsessed with that hundredth, because I’m sure it’s going to make the difference.”

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