After a solid first year, Carlos Sainz wants to consolidate in 2026

Interview provided by Atlassian Williams F1 team.

Now that you've had a full year to integrate into the team, how is the start of the 2026 season different with these foundations in place?

Well, in many ways, this second season with the team will be very different, as I've met everyone I needed to meet. Of course, there are still a lot of new faces who have joined the team over the last few months, but I now know most of the key members of my team, which will make things much easier and the work flow much more smoothly. At the same time, everything will be completely new again. It's a completely new car, with a completely new set of regulations, so all the experience I gained with the FW47—how to drive it, how to be as fast as possible at the end of the season with it—all of that is now wiped out. We have to acquire all that experience and knowledge again, so it's very exciting.

If we had told you at the beginning of last year that you would be on the podium several times, how would you have felt? Have these results exceeded all your expectations?

I think so, obviously. You always embark on a new project with very high expectations, and my expectations were always high when I started this project with Williams. If, at the beginning of the year, you had told me that we would achieve two podium finishes, one in the sprint, but above all, fifth place in the Constructors' Championship and a top-ten finish in the Drivers' Championship, I would have thought the year had been really good. I think we had a very solid first year together, and now we need to build on that to progress.

This season marks the start of new Formula 1 regulations. With such a major change in the sport, how do you see this challenge and what excites you most about adapting to this new generation of cars?

On the one hand, I'm very excited because it's a completely new set of regulations, which means all the teams and drivers are starting from scratch, and we want to make the most of this opportunity. At the same time, I would have liked to have a few more years with the standard regulations to continue adapting and bringing to Williams everything I knew about the old regulations. This was one of the main reasons I joined this team and chose Williams as my future project, as I had a lot of confidence in the path we were on with this project as we approached these new regulations. I hope we can take another step in the right direction.

What are your personal goals for 2026, and what do you think the team can achieve during this first year of implementing the new rules?

I think it's impossible to set specific targets at the start of this year, because everything is so new, so different. I think these are the most significant regulatory changes since 2014, perhaps even more significant. Setting a target for where you'll finish in the championship standings, or in the constructors' championship, is, for me, an almost impossible task. What I'll be looking at is how much the team is progressing in all the areas where we know we still have gaps and weaknesses. So, for me, the main thing will be to continue to see progress compared to our position last year and to continue to see a positive trend like the one we've been experiencing.

Alex (Albon) and you're starting your second season together as teammates. How has your working relationship evolved over the past year? And how do you encourage the team to move forward?

My working relationship with Alex has always been excellent from the start. At this time last year, we had already established a strong and very positive relationship, and we worked very hard together over the winter. A year later, we know each other very well. We know our respective strengths and weaknesses, the areas where I can help him, and those where he can help me. By combining his experience with mine, as well as our good understanding, we have been able to move the team forward. A year later, we know each other very well. We know our respective strengths and weaknesses; I know where I can help him in certain areas, and he knows where he can help me in others. We combine his experience with mine, but also our good, healthy, and competitive working relationship. I think we can help Williams a lot this year, especially as I think experience will be very important with the introduction of a new set of regulations.

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