Carlos Sainz has revealed that a core flaw in Williams' 2025 Formula 1 car is likely to persist throughout the season.
The highly regarded Spaniard, who joined Williams from Ferrari, has struggled to match the pace of teammate Alex Albon.
Albon acknowledged the car's basic issue but was cautious about detailing it publicly. "I mean, we don't talk too much about weaknesses in the car for our rivals, but for the most part, yes—it's very corner specific and it's wind specific," he said.
Albon suggested that Sainz's challenges may also stem from adaptation difficulties.
"It's clear that he has a driving style he wants to use with the car. And being totally honest, there's nothing new to what I feel," Albon noted. "I think what's really good though is his ideas and a fresh approach."
Sainz was guarded about the precise nature of the car's limitation as well.
"We have a small balance issue that we are trying to resolve with the tools we have, because with developments I don't think there's a chance," he said. "We're putting all our efforts into 2026."
Despite the lack of planned upgrades, Sainz remains determined to address the problem. "If we improve it, the car has a lot of potential, and so does the team," he said.
"If we unlock which part of the car does this, I'm 100 percent sure we can make big steps forward. I want to make sure that even though we're not going to develop the car much, we continue to work as if we were going to do so to understand the car's strengths and weaknesses. Even though we don't spend a lot of time in the wind tunnel and CFD, we do what we can to understand where it's coming from."
