Carlos Sainz will be worried by James Vowles’ comments about one ‘issue’ Williams face with their 2025 F1 car

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Williams hoped to enter the 2025 summer break with good momentum behind them. However, the team have been struggling in recent races.

The Grove outfit enjoyed an incredibly strong start to the year, with Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon making regular Q3 appearances and the latter finishing P5 three times in the first seven races. But they have since struggled for consistency with the FW47.

Sainz says Williams have fallen short with development in 2025, as they have prioritised the 2026 F1 regulations, hoping to get a head start over their rivals. While they are fifth in the standings as the summer break arrives, other teams are starting to close the gap.

Williams have only scored points three times in the last six races, with numerous issues being exposed. Mechanical problems caused a double retirement in Austria, with Sainz not even starting the race as his car caught fire in the pits.

Last time out at the Hungarian GP, Albon started at the back of the grid while Sainz was eliminated in Q2. As team principal James Vowles notes, the Hungaroring exposed a major ‘issue’ that the team are having difficulty fixing.

James Vowles says Williams need to drive around their ‘issue’ with long corners – Carlos Sainz will be worried

Speaking via the official Williams YouTube channel, Vowles says the Grove outfit have a problem with long corners, with Budapest proving to be a weak circuit for the team. He says they have to drive around the problem as the balance was not where they wanted to be.

“Budapest was a really difficult track for us. We went in there with hopes that the update we put on in Spa and some of the work we were doing this year would be enough to transform the performance and put us within a gap of being able to score a point or two,” he said.

“But in reality, as you saw, we didn’t have the pace, whether that be in qualifying or on long run. Now, a lot of that was known going into the event. We have an issue certainly with long sustained corners, and Budapest is pretty much the track for that and so we’re having to drive around that.

“The balance, putting it more simply, wasn’t where we needed it to be for the car to work properly.”

Sainz will be worried by Vowles’ comments, given his struggles at Williams in 2025. While he is not significantly behind his teammate in terms of performance, Albon has been outscoring Sainz, with 54 points to his 16.

Albon says Sainz cannot drive around Williams’ problems like he can, given his experience with the team. Vowles’ comments will not bring much confidence to the Spaniard, as the team are not set to make any more changes to their 2025 car.

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Carlos Sainz has been growing frustrated with Williams in 2025

It is clear that the Spaniard’s arrival in Grove has been huge for the team on and off the track. Sainz has dramatically increased Williams’ fan engagement since he moved from Ferrari over the winter.

The 30-year-old has bought into the team’s project, knowing full well that he would be, initially, fighting in the midfield and towards the back compared to winning races at Ferrari. But he certainly would have expected to put more points on the board.

Sainz says Williams have not been good enough operationally in 2025. He has been growing frustrated with the team’s strategic errors and lack of development this season, which has ultimately cost him more points.

Williams have learned Ferrari’s tyre preparation since Sainz’s arrival, which has helped them improve. However, the two parties have more work to do before they can score points more consistently.