Saiz driver managed to score points in Miami, but his analysis was blunt: the delays in the crash test and the overweight weighed down the start of the season, now, with the weight reduced, the team is beginning to show its potential: "We are still miles away from where we promised to be," he said.
Williams breathed a sigh of relief in Miami, for the first time in the 2026 season, the British team scored points with both cars, a haul of three units that tastes like little but means a lot in the context of their failed start, Carlos Sainz, the main architect of that double points finish, was the one in charge of bringing things back down to earth.
"A little more optimistic, after all this is the car we should have brought to race 1, which due to the delays that you already know have been happening, had to be delayed until May in Miami," the Spaniard acknowledged when asked about his mood after the race. The phrase perfectly portrays the ordeal that the Grove team has experienced in the first stages of the championship.
The origin of the problem dates back to pre-season, Williams arrived late to 2026, a delay in the crash test, added to the absence from the first Barcelona practice sessions and an arrival at the Bahrain tests with accumulated homework, turned the start of the year into a race against time, while other teams fine tuned their cars, the Grove team was still building theirs.
The upgrade package introduced in Miami has been key, much of the new features focused on reducing the 28 kilograms of overweight that were dragging down the FW48's performance, the result, according to Sainz, was noticeable on the asphalt: "After how chaotic the first 10 laps were, we were able to establish our pace and there I clearly saw that it was the ninth fastest car," he declared.
The comparison with Japan is telling: In Suzuka, Williams was losing half a second per lap against their direct rivals (Audi, Haas, Racing Bulls). In Miami, the trend reversed. "Today we weren't putting half a second on them, but two or three tenths. We must have made a big step forward," celebrated Sainz.
But the Spaniard did not want to fall into complacency: "We are still miles away from where we promised to be and we have to keep working hard. Let's not settle for this because it's not what we all thought and we want more," he stated forcefully, the goal, he recalled, was not just to lead the midfield, the promise of 2026 aimed higher.
The main obstacle now is called Alpine: "Alpine is still three, five tenths ahead, which is miles away," admitted Sainz. That gap, considerable in today's Formula 1, marks the distance between survival and real ambition. Sainz trusts that the worst is already over: "I hope all those problems are over and now we start the recovery," he concluded.
Williams, after months adrift, finally has a car, now it's time to prove that they can really compete.