Carlos Sainz weighs Williams future amid 2026 slump
NXTbets Pro | Published On: June 18, 2026
Sainz future
Carlos Sainz says he remains committed to Williams, but he is still weighing his long-term future as the team works through a difficult 2026 campaign. The Spaniard, who joined Williams from Ferrari in 2025 after losing his seat to Lewis Hamilton at the end of 2024, said after the Monaco Grand Prix that he wants to help the team recover but must make a decision about his future later this year. That puts his next step squarely in focus even as he continues to back the project publicly. Sainz has said Williams is behind where it should be at this stage of the season, yet he also believes the team can finish strongly and that its development plan should bring better results. He has described team principal James Vowles’ goal of making Williams competitive with Formula 1’s top teams by 2028 as realistic. He also made clear he is still judging whether that timeline fits how long he is willing to wait to win again.
Williams problems
Williams has not given Sainz much to work with this season. The team introduced the FW48 late and overweight, and winter development delays forced it to miss both the Barcelona shakedown and private testing under the new regulations. That slow start has shaped the opening stretch of the campaign, even if recent upgrades have helped Williams score points more regularly. The team sits eighth in the constructors’ standings with 11 points, and its best result so far in 2026 is eighth place in Monaco. Sainz has scored only points this season and has finished ninth three times, which leaves him narrowly ahead of Alex Albon in the drivers’ standings. The numbers show a team that has made some progress, but the gap to the front remains wide. Williams is still expected to improve over the next few years, yet the present picture remains one of recovery rather than contention.
Coulthard view
David Coulthard has already raised the question of whether Sainz could start looking elsewhere if Williams does not speed up its progress. Speaking on the Up To Speed podcast, Coulthard said Sainz has gone from driving for wins at Ferrari to focusing on scoring points at Williams, a shift that captures the size of the challenge in front of him. Coulthard also said Albon looks more settled at Williams, another sign that Sainz is operating in a less stable part of the garage as he evaluates what comes next. Sainz, though, has pushed the message that he is in the fight with the team and remains focused on helping it get back to competitiveness. After the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, he said he knows what upgrades are coming for Williams and believes those changes usually work. That optimism sits alongside his more cautious view of the season. He has already said podium contention this year looks unlikely, which leaves Williams aiming for steady progress rather than a late surge into the front-running fight.
