Carlos Sainz finds himself scratching his head over what he describes as one of the most puzzling shifts in performance he’s experienced in his career, from the beginning of his tenure with Williams to the recent Chinese Grand Prix.
Williams has kicked off 2025 on a high note. With Alex Albon clinching impressive fifth and seventh-place finishes in the first two races, the team has already equaled its total points from 2024. Unlike his teammate, Sainz couldn’t quite keep up in Shanghai. Even though post-race disqualifications bumped him up to 10th place, he’s still perplexed about his sudden drop in performance, especially after feeling so at ease during pre-season trials.
Reflecting on F1’s growing popularity in the U.S., albeit without any local drivers, Scott Speed shares insights on this unusual dynamic. Meanwhile, Red Bull is contemplating a swift change concerning Lawson, and Ferrari experienced a dramatic 24-hour turnaround in China.
Sainz expressed his thoughts candidly: “We nailed the strategy, but unfortunately, the car’s pace just wasn’t there. I struggled a lot with the front tires throughout the race. Plus, we had to save a lot of fuel, which didn’t help the situation with the fronts, and we simply didn’t have the pace.”
He continued, “I’m genuinely puzzled, and honestly, it’s frustrating. From the moment I got into this car, I was very fast during testing, and now I’m not sure where all that speed disappeared to this weekend. The silver lining is that we have about ten days to dig into what went wrong and figure out a game plan to bounce back stronger in Japan.”
Sainz has always felt he could match Albon and tap into the car’s potential since joining Williams, but after an unfortunate early exit in the first race, he’s been grappling with challenges.
“It’s one of the strangest performance swings I’ve had in my career. I was naturally swift in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi, and I even started strong in Australia, but then, out of nowhere, my pace just vanished,” he explained.
“We made numerous setup changes on my side, mirroring what Alex did, since both cars were set up quite similarly. It seemed to work well for him with the front graining, which made him stronger. On my side, though, it didn’t do much, and I was left dealing with the same graining issues.”
In response to some whispers from Spain about Sainz possibly running a dated chassis compared to Albon, RACER confirms that both drivers are equipped with Williams’ latest monocoque, an updated version from last year designed for this season. Unlike the previous year, Williams has an extra chassis this time around, giving Sainz the option to switch things up before the Suzuka race if he chooses to.
