Williams Racing has confirmed an upgrade for Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon, while the Formula 1 grid is preparing for the next Belgian Grand Prix. The news arrives in the middle of a collapse of mid-season for the Grove-based outfit, which has seen rivals fill the gap in recent weeks after a strong start of the 2025 campaign.
The director of the James Vowles team addressed the recent team trajectory and the new package in a team video.
“We are now halfway and obviously a very strong start, then we fell a little, because others have added performance to their car. Now we have a small update to come. (0:40)
While Williams is currently fifth in the manufacturers’ championship with 59 points, the figures show a deeper imbalance. Albon scored 46 of these points. Carlos Sainz, on the other hand, had a difficult race, with only 13 points all season and only one point in the last four races.
Earlier in the British weekend GP, Sainz frankly assessed its first turbulent semester (via the official Formula 1 website):
“Certainly, we are going through a difficult period with reliability problems, with weekend execution problems as you can see and the last weekends, I think, we were extremely difficult for us as a team.”
Vowles echoed this feeling in the team’s video debriefing, adding:
“With Carlos, I think we have not delivered everything we can with him this year. It was a mixture everywhere. There were errors that he made. (5:10)
Williams brought a series of ground fence updates to Silverstone last week, aimed at improving the distribution of the flow and the performance of downstream cars. The SPA updates should be evolving, which has refined the balance of the FW47 on what remains the longest and most complex arrangement of the F1 calendar.
“Everything that could go wrong this year so far has gone wrong”: Carlos Sainz is thinking about the first half of the season
Silverstone produced a humid race filled with drama and unpredictability, shaping the British Grand Prix. Williams collected four points after Alex Albon exceeded Fernando Alonso during the last round to finish P8. For Carlos Sainz, however, the exit ended with frustration.
Current just outside the points and approaching Charles Leclerc, the Spaniard was caught when the Ferrari driver broke through Stowe and ran on his way. The contact damaged the front wing and the floor front n ° 55 of the FW47, costing for about half a second per turn and finally leaving it to P12.
“Unfortunately for Carlos, while he was running in a strong position, he was touched by Charles … The damage was extended. It was a wing and a floor before and the losses probably about half a second per turn,” Vowles confirmed in the team’s video. (2:05)
The result added to a growing loss of reverse for Spanish, which did not start the Austrian Grand Prix due to a prior brake fire. But even in the middle of adversity, the quadruple winner of the Grand Prix remains resolved.
“I think that everything that could go wrong this year so far has gone wrong for me … The only thing that makes me smile is the speed I have in the car and with the team … We simply do not seem to have a break in terms of luck, implementation of the weekend, reliability … But at one point, it will end and as soon as I get a little momentum, I know what we can do.
The Spa-Francorchamps circuit is known for its elevation quarters and high-speed sections like red water and Blanchimont. While the Paddock F1 heads to Belgium, Williams hopes to capitalize on their upgrade and transform the potential into results.
And for Carlos Sainz, the Belgian Grand Prix could be the turning point that his season does so badly need.
Published by Rupesh
