Carlos Sainz says that Williams require “philosophy change” to be competitive in F1 2026

Carlos Sainz Used Hungarian Grand Prix Design philosophy is required as an example about the changes in philosophy Williams For the 2026 Formula 1 campaign, as the team struggled in Hungering.

In reviewing its initial 14 rounds in the team, Sainz felt that the poor appearance of Williams in Hungary was in accordance with more than 2025 seen expectations; Spaniad mentions that FW47 performs well in circuit with strips and short corners, but struggles to maintain the downforce through longer radius.

Although Williams has ensured that its car is more of an all-rounder in this season and has scored 10 out of 14 weekends, it still retains some characteristics shown by its predecessors. 46 cars from Williams FW44 performed well at all high speeds, but were also very paired in terms of downforce output. It was ensured that the last three years were defined by inconsistent consequences.

Sainz said that by next year, very few Williams could do that situation when all its new 2026 cars were suppressed in action – and revealed their expectations that it would ride on their reaction.

“This (Hungering) has always been a difficult track for the team,” Sainz, who joined Williams this year FerrariSaid. “We had a very long debut after qualifying because obviously I am coming from the team that was going back to a team on the pole which was P13 with me.

“I can give them a very strong response in such a way why this car is living around a track in this way. Obviously we cannot do anything for this year, but hope for the future is a very big learning state for the team to know how we need to develop Formula 1 car to be successful and competitive in tracks like Budapest or Barcelona.

“We have relatively poor aero characteristics in long corners, where you need to keep the downforce from entry into the mid-corner. We struggle with such things.

“This has been a trend for a very long time. That is why long -term straps and sharp short corners are good for the team. But at the moment we join the long joint corners of Barcelona, Hungary, Qatar – the car actually struggles.

“It requires a very large design philosophy change for the future. We are trying to understand where and what to change to make sure about an all-rounder and gives us a better platform to work in many tracks.”

Despite his reservation about the current Williams package in some circuits, Sainz feels that everyone in the Williams team align towards their future as it tries to win the first title since 1997.

He said that the squads were not actively developing their 2025 cars and thus could not make the drivers’ response in behalf beyond the AT-track set-up directions. Sainz said that completing its weekend’s performance would be the tricks to collect other midfield teams vs. which have developed more.

“This is a very strong beginning for our time that the way we want to develop a conversation with the team, car, Alex, with James,” Sainz said.

“It’s not that we can exploit the two drivers’s response and the intentions that we have to develop, what we need, because we are not putting it in the wind tunnel to develop it.

“This is where the next year is going to be very challenging for the team and for themselves to see if we can actually improve the main weaknesses of this car that are very clear in such tracks.

“From my side on short duration, I will just focus on weekend’s execution. In fact we can not do anything at the end of the set-up of aero or car.

“I (Hungary) Tried three or four different set-ups over the weekend and tried and made an additional discovery around such tracks.

“The problem is that I think we are slightly separated, and come on a track where it is very difficult for us.

“The second half of the season, I will just look for stability with the set-up, the car with stability, and simply make sure that we execute the clean weekend.”