Carlos Sainz says Williams has to go back to the drawing board after planet f1 watched neither car score at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix. The result ended a run of points in Miami, Canada and Monaco, and it left the team with a clear problem to solve before the next stretch of the season.
Carlos Sainz and Barcelona-Catalunya
Sainz did not soften the assessment. “it's time to go back to the drawing board,” he said after the race, adding that Williams needed to do more than it was already doing. He also said every week it was super important for the team to find points of downforce or kilos of weight.
That view matched the weekend on track. He qualified P16, gained a couple of places on the first lap on Sunday, and finished P12 after being lapped twice. For a car that had scored in three straight races before Spain, Barcelona-Catalunya produced a far harsher read on where Williams stands.
FW48 pace gap
Sainz pointed to the FW48’s lack of downforce relative to rivals and the penalty from excess weight at a circuit built around high-speed corners. He said the team was very far from where it should be and where it targeted to be, especially in medium and high-speed turns.
He described the result as a realisation, not a surprise, and said the car was far behind in a medium-speed track. Williams does have upgrades working through the system, including some focused on weight-saving, but James Vowles has already said those changes will take time.
Albon’s lost Sunday
Alex Albon’s race unravelled even further. He started from P18, but a loose camera mounting compromised his run and sent him back to the track after a long stop for what became a test session.
He crossed the line 11 laps down and was not officially classified. Put together with Sainz’s P12 finish, it left Williams with no points from a weekend that exposed the gap the team still has to close on fast corners and in overall car efficiency.
