Author Archives: PressBox

Carlos Sainz said his long-term future at Williams depends on how quickly the team recovers from its difficult 2026 Formula 1 season, and he has not set a firm deadline for deciding whether to stay beyond 2026. Speaking ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Sainz said discussions with team principal James Vowles and his management are expected during the summer break, and he warned that he will only wait so long for the team to improve. He also said he may need to reassess his decision over the next three to four years if Williams’s turnaround does not stay on track.

Williams has struggled this year with an overweight car, production delays and poor performance, leaving the team on 11 points from the first 10 races and at the back of the midfield. Sainz has scored six of those points. He said the season has been much harder than he expected after an encouraging 2025 campaign, and that the new 2026 regulations did not help Williams maintain its place or move closer to the front. He described the campaign as “character-building” and said it has shown how much work remains if Williams wants to fight a top team.

Even with the setbacks, Sainz said he still believes in Vowles’s long-term project and sees investment being made behind the scenes. He said the team now has a clearer understanding of its shortcomings, but improving the situation will take time, effort, budget-cap money and analysis. Sainz, who joined Williams after leaving Ferrari, said Vowles’s long-term plan persuaded him to make the move, though Williams’s struggles have pushed back his expected timeline for race-winning form by one or two years.

Max Verstappen’s future at Red Bull remained a central topic in Formula 1 as speculation grew around performance-based exit clauses and interest from rival teams. Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies said the driver market was working in both directions, with many good drivers contacting the team about seats, and he said the attention was not a distraction. Verstappen’s contract runs through the end of 2028, but reports have centered on clauses that could give him an exit after this season, with one possible trigger linked to the period after the Hungarian Grand Prix if he is outside the top two in the championship. An October decision deadline has also been mentioned.

Mekies said Red Bull’s priority was to make the car faster and keep Verstappen, and he said the ideal long-term lineup was Verstappen alongside Isack Hadjar. Mekies praised Hadjar’s recent form, noting the rookie had finished in the top six in each of his last six grands prix and had recovered to sixth in Belgium after starting from the back because of a penalty. He said Red Bull wanted to preserve the Verstappen-Hadjar pairing as the team pushed to close the gap to the front.

Verstappen said he was focused on helping Red Bull solve its complicated problems ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, and he did not give a clear answer when asked about his future. The Dutch driver has not won a race in 2026, and Red Bull’s first season as a fully fledged works team has been marked by teething issues. After 10 rounds, the team was described as arguably only the fourth-fastest package on the grid, behind McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes, and that lack of consistent pace has fueled speculation about Verstappen’s future beyond this season. Mekies said he was optimistic Verstappen would stay if the car continued to improve, while Verstappen said he would speak up himself if anything changed.

Colton Herta is getting another Formula 1 chance with Cadillac, as the team confirmed he will drive Valtteri Bottas’ car in Friday’s first practice session at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The run will be Herta’s second F1 practice appearance of the season and comes six weeks after his official grand prix weekend debut in Barcelona, where he replaced Sergio Perez. Herta, Cadillac’s official test, reserve and development driver, also races in Formula 2 for Hitech, and the Hungarian session will mean he has driven both of Cadillac’s cars on grand prix weekends.

Herta said the outing will give him more experience and help Cadillac’s car development and long-term progress. Cadillac team principal Graeme Lowdon said the team is still working to improve reliability and gather mileage on the MAC-26. The team has yet to score a point after 10 rounds of its first Formula 1 season, with Bottas’ 13th place in China still its best finish. Perez came close to delivering Cadillac’s first point in Monaco before a penalty dropped him to 15th, and Bottas and Perez still each need to sit out one more practice session later in the season to complete the team’s mandatory rookie running.

Herta’s bid for a future Cadillac race seat is tied to his progress in Formula 2, where he has yet to win, stand on the podium or take pole position this season. He has scored five points finishes through eight rounds, with his best result coming in Barcelona, and by mid-to-late July he was around 13th to 17th in the standings with roughly 20 to 26 points. Cadillac’s next decisions on its driver lineup will likely depend in part on whether Herta can produce stronger, more consistent results in the second half of the season.