Aston Martin now “in a different league” confesses struggling F1 rival
Aston Martin is currently out of reach of Williams, according to Carlos Sainz.
Carlos Sainz has admitted that recent upgrades have put the Aston Martin Formula 1 team “in a different league” compared to Williams.
Aston Martin had the slowest F1 car for much of the first half of the 2026 season but a significant upgrade in Hungary, coupled with a new engine introduced by Honda at Zandvoort, has boosted the team’s competitiveness.
Fernando Alonso finished ninth to score two points at the Dutch Grand Prix as Aston Martin comfortably outperformed Williams. Sainz could only take 16th following a late clash with Alex Albon which forced the latter to retire.
After the race, the Spaniard conceded that Williams is now only ahead of F1 newcomers Cadillac in the 2026 pecking order.
“We are pretty much where we expected, which is towards the back,” Sainz said.
“We are only quicker than Cadillac at the moment. You saw the Astons in race pace, they are a different league right now. So we couldn't fight them. We couldn't fight anyone, really.”
Sainz added: “If you look at the last five races, this is where we've been for the last five races. It is where we are.
“We've had a very tough weekend on my side with some consistency of the parts, which haven't allowed me to set up the car correctly for the race. We have to learn from it.
“There will be some interesting data points to go through as a team with the struggles that I've had. We will be able to, for sure, conclude on them and probably help us to understand better in the future.”
Williams is hopeful of a better showing at next weekend’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza, which has been a strong venue for the British squad in recent years. However, Albon is keeping his expectations in check.
“It's always a good track for us. Low [downforce], not much combined cornering, so that tends to suit our car,” he said.
“We’ve got the best power unit on the grid, so it should help us. But I'm not expecting points.”
Williams currently sits ninth in the constructors’ championship with 11 points. It is five points behind eighth-placed Audi and eight clear of Aston Martin. Cadillac is yet to score in 2026 and lies bottom of the pile.
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