The Spaniard said the FW48 is 1.8 seconds off the leaders in qualifying and that the overweight is not the only problem. The team is eighth in the constructors' championship.
Carlos Sainz has been blunt in his assessment of Williams' situation in the 2026 season, the Spanish driver said the British team is "far from where it should be" after a start to the championship in which they languish in eighth position in the constructors' championship: "For me, being a second... We were 1.8 seconds in qualifying, 1.7s, 1.6s, 1.9s depending on the lap, the overweight may put you a second behind the leaders, fighting with an Alpine. That's not where we promised we would be this year" declared Sainz after the Spanish Grand Prix.
Williams finished fifth in the constructors' championship in 2025, a position that James Vowles described as a "new benchmark" on the path to becoming a genuine title contender, however, the reality of 2026 is very different.
The FW48 was finished late, arrived at preseason testing with a lot of overweight and, according to Sainz, the aerodynamic problem is even more serious than the extra ballast: "I think if you get rid of the overweight, you get into the fight for those points, but that's really not enough" said the Spaniard.
Sainz's reference to wind tunnel time is related to the Aerodynamic Testing Regulations (ATR), which limit the development of teams with better performance to give more opportunities to those lagging behind. Based on their fifth place in 2025, Williams enjoys more development margin than Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull, but fewer resources than Racing Bulls, Haas, Audi, Aston Martin, Alpine and Cadillac (despite that theoretical advantage, the team has not been able to translate it into on track performance).
The FW48's weight situation is a result of the car failing a preseason crash test, which required reinforcing certain elements. That weight is only being reduced gradually because, for budget-cap reasons, the team has decided to use as many components as possible until the end of their useful lives before replacing them. However, aerodynamic performance is also lagging, particularly in the medium- and high-speed corners that predominate on circuits like Barcelona.
Sainz acknowledged that the team already knew the situation would be complicated, but that reality has exceeded the most pessimistic expectations: "Looking back, I think it's been a bit more shocking to see how far we are in medium and high speed corners, partly due to weight, but even more important, due to the downforce we have on the cars. It's time to go back to the drawing board and start bringing more things to the car, because clearly we are very far off" concluded the Spaniard.
