Sainz Faces Uphill Battle at Williams Amidst Albon’s strong Form
Carlos Sainz finds himself trailing teammate Alex Albon significantly in the Formula 1 standings at the season’s halfway mark, a disparity that doesn’t fully reflect their on-track performances. While Albon has delivered Williams’ best results of the year, securing five fifth-place finishes, Sainz has been hampered by a series of unfortunate incidents and a perceived change in the car’s performance characteristics.
Sainz has expressed confusion over the team’s struggles with Pirelli’s new,softer C6 tire,introduced around the time of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. He publicly stated at the Austrian Grand Prix that “something changed” which prevented Williams from maximizing the potential of the softest compounds.
Both drivers have encountered reliability issues with the FW47.Sainz, in particular, has suffered from incidents involving other drivers, including collisions in Bahrain and Silverstone, a qualifying incident in Montreal, and damage to his floor in Miami. These events have arguably cost him better results.
Despite these setbacks, Albon has been a consistent performer, achieving strong results when the car has been performing optimally. However, the points gap between the two drivers is less indicative of their qualifying pace, where the battle has been much closer.
The article suggests that Sainz’s success at Williams is a matter of “when, not if,” but acknowledges his likely frustration with the current points deficit to Albon. The team is noted to possess one of its strongest driver lineups in years, comparable to the Valtteri Bottas/Felipe Massa era.