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With the
completition of the 2025 Formula 1 season the Atlassian Williams Racing Team
could now totally shift their focus onto their 2026 car. This is coming off
the shift that the team made onto their 2026 car as so as they were allowed to
back in January 2026.
For Williams driver Carlos Sainz this has allowed him the opportunity to
be heavily involved in the design and production process such that for the
first time he will be able to influence the direction that the new 2026 car
will take. The lengthy process of developing the 2026 car has allowed Carlos
and team-mate Alex Albon to have an input into the new car.
At the
final race of the 2025 season Carlos spoke of this aspect of the new cars
development.
Carlos said: "First of all, I cannot wait to also have
an influence on the design of the car. The setup philosophy, and the
direction that the car can take into next year, and to make the drivers feel
a bit more comfortable or a bit more at ease from the get go.
"From
the baseline of the car that we put on track, I think we can do steps
forward already on that side, but I think once the season starts, I think
the driver is going to have more of an influence on software development
with HPP (High Performance Powertrains), in this case, Mercedes.
"I
think the power unit is going to be a huge thing, and I think having two
experienced drivers like Alex and I think, in that sense, could help.
"Then when it comes to setup development, it’s more keep doing what
we’ve done this year, and just have the effect of before the year, before we
put the car on track, and then having the effect of during the year, how to
make the car quicker.”
Carlos also gave his views as to what 2026
will bring for himself and the Williams team. For the team the 2026 season
is one where they are putting so much effort into having a successful car,
as shown by the very early shift of focus to the 2026 FW48.
He
added: "I think next year is such a big change of regulations that I don’t
plan to change my expectations too much, because it’s not like the new
regulations give me any stronger feeling that we can do a step forward.
"I think if the regulations would have been stable, given that we’ve
done a few races this year where we’ve been two to four tenths off pole
position and race pace, I would say this team, with another stable set of
regulations, and having so clear now what the car’s weaknesses are and where
we need to improve, and seeing the team capacity to improve them, I would
feel more confident, let’s say, that we can keep doing these incremental
steps in the next two or three years to get to the top.
"But the new
set of regulations is such a reset for everyone, for all the engineers, for
myself, that I don’t feel any more confident about it, because we could do
it really well and put together a very good car for next year.
“But
at the same time, very quickly, you can get it wrong, and you need to reset
and find the right way that maybe another team has found a loophole or a
direction that you never thought would be possible. So that’s why, for next
year, I think we need to stay super focused and calm about our
expectations."
Coming from the experience of their 2025 season 2026 is certainly one where the team expectations should be
carefully kept in check. At the beginning of the 2025 season the team had expectations that certainly were well below
what they were able to achieve come the end of the season with their 5th place in
the Constructors championship and several podium finishes. Could 2026 finish in a similar fashion only time will tell. |
