Carlos Sainz has expressed frustration over Williams' choice to cease development of their 2025 Formula 1 car, redirecting resources toward the 2026 season.
After a challenging transition from Ferrari, where he was replaced by Lewis Hamilton, the Spaniard has begun to find his footing at Williams. Team principal James Vowles praised Sainz's decision to join, telling AS newspaper, "I'm very proud that Carlos believed me and I hope the world sees what he saw now. Carlos is a key part of our progress this year."
However, Sainz revealed in Miami that Williams has halted all development on the 2025 car, a move that has left him "angry."
"I think this car has a lot of potential," he told DAZN. "If we could really develop it and put the improvements I could ask the team to make in the wind tunnel, and improve two or three things on the car that are currently not so good, I'm convinced the team could make huge strides forward."
He added, "Our decision is not to invest in this year's car and to put all the budget and wind tunnel hours into the 2026 car and focus on that."
Sainz, 30, expressed his disappointment, stating, "It even makes me angry, because when you see that you are three tenths from pole and you still see the great potential that we have ahead of us, in only my sixth race, and with a car that still has several points that I don't like, I would like to see what we would be capable of doing. But for this year, I think this is the best we can hope for. Circuit by circuit, we'll do a little better or worse, but this is what it is."
Despite his frustration, Sainz clarified his support for Williams' long-term strategy, while Vowles noted that some minor upgrades are still planned for 2025.
"We have performance in the pipeline," Vowles said.
"There's a rule change at race nine where everyone will have to change their front wing, and we're taking that opportunity to bring more performance. And then a little bit more after that, although not much. Just some progress on small things we've found in recent months.
"But the real goal is 2026. Everything we'll do will bring a little bit more performance to this year's car, but nothing about 2026 will be sacrificed."
