
Smites: Sines' influence has a positive impact on everything.
Although in the first half of the season, the Williams team scored points not in every race, and Alex Albon was able to do this more often than his teammate, it is quite clear that the team is now on the rise, and the fifth place in the Constructors' Championship confirms this.
Carlos Sainz indeed has three and a half times fewer points than Albon, but the team management highly values his contribution to the overall effort. Sports Director Sven Smitz believes that the Spanish driver brought a sort of missing ingredient to Williams’ work, which contributed to the rapid progress.
“The arrival of Carlos Sainz at Williams has played a transformative role, affecting everything from car modernization to sponsor interest,” Smitz says, as quoted by British Autosport. “It’s very pleasant working with Carlos; he contributes not only to solving technical issues related to the car: his influence is also felt in how the race crew operates and how we prepare for 2026.
His experience working with different teams and driving equipment capable of fighting for victories has given Williams what we likely lacked.”
Regarding the team’s situation this season, Smitz said: “Carlos himself mentioned that he had to get used to the peculiarities of our car. The difference between Williams and Ferrari is indeed significant. But everything is gradually coming together; he works very well with Alex, and we are very pleased. Personally, I expect him to perform quite confidently in the second half of the season.
Both drivers are currently working at the same level in the garage, but more importantly, they are collaborating closely. We manage to distribute the workload more efficiently during training and to unify the gathered information to make the best decisions about approaches in the remaining weekend sessions. All this is very valuable.
On the track, Alex and Carlos remain rivals, but in the boxes, the most important thing is to ensure smooth teamwork of the entire crew, and our drivers help push it forward and improve the car. Now both drivers are truly rallying the team energetically, and much of this is facilitated by the fact that they are working in the same direction.
In the first half of the year, Carlos noticed many points where different or more effective approaches could be applied. Some of these will only be implemented next year, but many things are already in place. Thanks to Carlos, we have made significant progress across all areas. Let’s hope this continues moving forward.”

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Smites: Sines' influence has a positive impact on everything.
Williams sporting director Sven Smitz believes that Carlos Sainz has brought a kind of missing ingredient to the team's work...