Sainz expresses regret over a 'difficult' first half of the season at Williams.

      "Recently, we have experienced numerous challenges."

      It has been a challenging first half-season at Williams for Carlos Sainz, the former Ferrari driver. With no offers from other leading teams, the highly regarded four-time grand prix winner found himself selecting from midfield options for 2025 and chose Williams. During his eleventh race with the Grove-based team in Austria, Sainz faced a major setback when he encountered a car issue before the formation lap. "We need to investigate if there's any link between the problems in qualifying and the race," Sainz told Spanish journalists. "We have been experiencing a lot of issues lately." Indeed, Sainz faced an upshifting fault in Australia, several setbacks at his home Spanish Grand Prix, overheating problems in Canada, and technical difficulties in both qualifying and just before the race at the Red Bull Ring. "The reality is that this first half of the year has been quite tough in that regard because we keep facing challenges," he added. "At some point, this streak of bad luck will end, and we will start to see positive results," he remarked to DAZN. Sainz recognized that the issues have not been limited to his car. "Yes, we also encountered another issue with Alex (Albon)," he confirmed. "We need to understand why we're experiencing so many problems in qualifying and during the race, as we've had several weekends filled with brake, engine, and overheating issues. We're somewhat vulnerable in this aspect, but we have no choice but to persevere and find ways to improve." Nevertheless, Williams team principal James Vowles has been transparent about the team's ongoing restructuring and the emphasis on developing for the new regulations coming in 2026. "It’s part of the journey we’re on at Williams," Sainz acknowledged. "We need to rebuild and redefine the team, which, as we can see, has a lot of issues and areas to improve. We will continue to push, stay focused, and learn from our mistakes." He admitted that maintaining mental resilience amid these challenges is tough. "It's a difficult question," said Sainz. "It's certainly not ideal for a driver’s mindset and motivation to be facing so many problems. However, one thing we aren’t lacking is speed; we have that on most weekends. It’s still early in the adaptation process. The issue is that speed becomes irrelevant if we encounter problems at crucial moments of the weekend, which is what we're experiencing."