Carlos Sainz Stays at Williams: Why His F1 Form Matters Despite Team Struggles

Carlos Sainz has endured one of the strangest seasons of his Formula 1 career at Williams. The Spaniard has produced performances worthy of far better machinery, yet six points and a string of ninth-place finishes tell a very different story. Sainz has now committed his future to Williams with a new multi-year contract, despite the team's dramatic decline from the competitiveness it showed in 2025.

What happened?

On paper, staying with a car that has become one of the slowest on the grid is difficult to justify for a 31-year-old driver who was winning races with Ferrari less than two years ago. However, Sainz's 2026 campaign has offered more evidence of his quality. The problem is that Williams has given him very little machinery with which to demonstrate it.

Why it matters for Carlos Sainz

The most obvious criticism of Sainz's season is the points column. He has scored just six points, with three ninth-place finishes representing his best results of the campaign. That is the worst run of results of his F1 career. Yet judging Sainz purely by those numbers ignores the context in which they have been achieved.

What comes next?

Williams' FW48 has been among the slowest cars on the grid. By average pace, it was the third-slowest machine before the summer break, ahead of only Cadillac at the Hungaroring after Aston Martin's major aerodynamic upgrade. Sainz, meanwhile, has reached Q2 in 10 of the first 15 qualifying sessions and has been beaten by team-mate Alex Albon only twice, with both defeats coming by margins of just thousandths of a second. That is not the profile of a driver struggling for form. It is the profile of a driver extracting almost everything available from an underperforming car.

Sainz himself acknowledged the contradiction when assessing his campaign. "I hate thinking like that because I'm P16," he said. "It's a very 'relative' sport." Yet once the car and driver are separated, Sainz believes this has been one of his most complete seasons. That assessment is difficult to dismiss.

Carlos Sainz is still fighting like a driver with something to prove

The irony of Sainz's difficult season is that his determination to maximise every opportunity may also have contributed to his most high-profile mistake. At the Hungarian Grand Prix, Sainz collided with race leader Oscar Piastri while being lapped. Piastri later criticised the Williams driver for "fighting Fernando [Alonso] for last place like it was the world championship". The criticism was understandable. But it also underlined the mentality that has made Sainz so effective this year.

There is little reward for fighting over 15th or 16th place in a Williams. Sainz, however, has approached those battles as though every position matters - because, for his career, it does. At 31, he cannot afford to disappear into the midfield. His performances in an uncompetitive Williams still shape how the rest of the paddock views him, particularly when future opportunities eventually emerge.

Key Takeaways:

• Carlos Sainz has committed to Williams with a new multi-year contract.
• He has produced performances worthy of far better machinery despite the team's decline.
• Sainz's determination to maximise every opportunity has contributed to his high-profile mistakes.

Sainz's Results Breakdown

Sainz has now committed his future to Williams with a new multi-year contract, despite the team's dramatic decline from the competitiveness it showed in 2025.