James Vowles makes 'fault' claim after heart-to-heart with Carlos Sainz

Williams has admitted that there is a “shared frustration” between Carlos Sainz and the team over their inability to convert outright speed into meaningful results in Formula 1 this year.

The Grove-based managed to secure the services of four-time grand prix winner Sainz in 2025, in what is widely viewed as the last piece in the puzzle in its pursuit of former glory.

However, while the Spaniard has been rapid in the first half of the season, results have generally proved hard to come by.

Across the first 14 rounds, the former Ferrari star has managed to accumulate just 16 points with a best finish of eighth place, leaving him a distant 16th in the drivers’ championship.

This makes him the second-lowest non-rookie in the standings, only ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, who has struggled since his in-season move to Red Bull at the Japanese GP.

Carlos Sainz struggling in F1 2025 at Williams

Sainz’s results also contrast with those of his teammate Alex Albon, who has capitalised on several big points-scoring opportunities to grab eighth place in the championship.

However, Williams team principal James Vowles has defended Sainz, whom he described as “incredibly quick”, and blamed a series of unrelated incidents for the lack of results.

“He and I had a talk before this weekend. Then we went out cycling and had a talk there as well,” Vowels said in Hungary.

“There's a shared frustration between the two of us. There's no doubt about it that there has been fault on all sides this year. There's been moments where the car is quick, but we've either crashed or something's happened, or we've had it wrong strategically.

“There's been moments where we sampled the weekend together. There's been moments where he's been caught out multiple times in qualifying by either blocking or red flags, one of which we created.

“And he's incredibly quick as you can see when everything runs smoothly, we're just not able to get it smooth.

“I don't know if it's the most up and down the grid. I suspect I've seen some drivers that are out in Q1 a number of times that probably shouldn't be, and that's not normally the case for Carlos.”

Joining Williams after four seasons at Ferrari was a massive shift for Sainz, who not only had to acclimatise himself to a completely new chassis but also a radically different Mercedes power unit.

Vowles stressed that with the initial learning curve complete, Williams and Sainz can now work towards having clean weekends in the latter part of the year.

“I think we're now at a stage where he understands us and he understands the car a lot more,” said Vowles.

“It is different to where the Ferrari was. We're not gonna be able to make it into the Ferrari, but as you can see, it's still performance in the way it is.

“I think we've reached that stage in the season where we're all comfortable with it. Our job now, this is on us, as a team, it's make sure we find a smooth platform, no pun intended, where we are delivering so that he can deliver himself at the same time.”