Carlos Sainz tells Williams they need to ‘step up’ at the Chinese GP in unheard Melbourne team radio

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Carlos Sainz’s frustrations with Williams’ efforts in 2026 were evident as he crossed the line at the 2026 season-opener in Australia, telling his engineer that the Grove-based outfit needs to ‘step up’ in the upcoming Chinese Grand Prix.

Following a promising final year of the ground effect era last year, there was a lot of anticipation surrounding how Williams would fare during F1’s regulatory reset this year.

What do you expect from Carlos Sainz in the 2026 F1 season?

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Williams fans got their answer last Sunday, as both Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz took the chequered flag outside of the top-10, points-paying positions.

The result came after a pre-season marred by development delays and several roadblocks. James Vowles was left red-faced ahead of the inaugural shakedown of pre-season after announcing Williams wouldn’t be present due to their failure in passing the FIA’s strict crash tests.

Carlos Sainz couldn’t hide his frustration with Williams at the chequered flag in Australia

After finishing the race in the penultimate position of the finishers at the Australian Grand Prix, Sainz’s race engineer, Gaetan Jego, attempted to console his driver by saying, “Tough one mate, but it was the first one of the year. We have a lot of work, but we’ll be on it together as a team.”

The Spaniard quickly fired back, “Yes, we’re learning, we are, but we need to step up. We have too many issues, too many things going on. We’re all going to make an effort for China so we can have a better one.”

Williams’ last major F1 milestones – Can the Grove-based squad achieve any of these again in 2026? ⬇️

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Sainz will be hoping for an uptick in performance upon his arrival in Shanghai for round two this weekend, at a circuit in which he secured his very first point for the Grove-based F1 outfit last year.

He can also be encouraged by Mercedes’ best-in-class power unit that the Williams FW48 houses.

While engineers still need to properly synergise the engine with their new chassis, which is something Williams have been frustrated with Mercedes over, Sainz can expect an advantage over his F1 rivals with differing engines on the 1.2km long back straight in Shanghai.

Sainz is renowned for being one of the smartest drivers on the grid, so there are no doubts that the Spaniard is doing everything he can to get Williams back into a position where they could snatch a podium on any given Sunday like last year.

James Vowles is now under pressure at Williams due to their poor start in 2026

Naturally, fingers have been pointed at the team principal for Williams’ disappointing start to the season.

Following the final round of the 2025 season, Vowles asserted that there would be no delays in Williams’ preparation for F1’s new era of regulations, a statement that hasn’t aged well at all.

He made the decision to put a stop to the development of the FW47 fairly early on in the 2025 campaign, with full focus reportedly going towards the chassis for this year.

Now that they have clearly fallen short of expectations, Vowles is under pressure from Williams’ investors over the calibre of results they can expect to see in 2026.

Sainz is wary of Williams being able to score points this weekend, and too many of them could prove to be fatal for the former Mercedes man’s aspirations in Grove.