Williams F1 boss assesses chances of retaining Carlos Sainz

James Vowles is confident that the Williams Formula 1 team can hang on to Carlos Sainz, despite a disappointing start to the 2026 season.

He’s adamant that Sainz is fully committed to helping to move the team up the grid and wants to “put his DNA” into the project.

Sainz has logged just three ninth places this year, and he failed to score in a difficult run over the last three events.

Vowles says an upgrade package for Silverstone this weekend will help to point the development of the FW48 in the right direction ahead of much bigger changes due for the Azerbaijan GP.

“He and I talk not daily, but probably every two days,” said Vowles when asked by Crash.net if he had concerns about hanging on to the Spanish driver. “And I think I'm right in saying he came out yesterday and said this is where he wants to be, this is where he wants his career to be, so he and I align. 

“Is he frustrated by where we are today? Yes. Being candid, I'm frustrated as well at the same time. What he is looking for is: do you have the ability to put this in the right perspective, turn it around, and add performance at the right rate? 

“And that's what we have to demonstrate to him. I'm confident we'll be able to do this. I think this weekend will be a good reset point against the last two, and what he's looking for is that.”

Vowles conceded that Sainz could look elsewhere: “He has the ability to go, not anywhere necessarily on the grid, but to a number of other locations. He wants this to be his, because he wants to put his DNA into it the same way I do as well, and make it his own. And my job in this is just to demonstrate to him some basic elements, which we're nearly there on.”

While the Baku upgrade is the main focus, Vowles said that it wasn’t correct to make a comparison with Aston Martin’s wait for a single big package in Hungary, as Williams has already been making steps.

"The best way to describe it to you is it's a B-spec car, it's a new chassis, and other bits that go with that the same time. That will be a large upgrade, that's true. 

“What we did between Suzuka to Miami was a reasonably large upgrade. What we have this weekend is actually a reasonable upgrade as well, at the same time. And then we have other weight reduction, which will be, in terms of performance, actually fairly significant.”

Vowles conceded that the team is behind schedule in some areas of its rebuilding programme, but he remains confident that it will get where it needs to be,

“The mapping of what I gave to the board when I came in, we're slightly behind it in some areas, we're slightly ahead of it in other areas,” he said. “This is incredibly tricky to do, because you're undoing N years’ worth of structure. 

“To a certain extent, it might be easier if you started from scratch, and we built it up with the right tools and methods. 

“This is difficult to do, but it's not impossible to do with the right investment, the right systems, and the right structure. It's entirely possible to do.”