Carlos Sainz assesses Williams upgrades after Friday at Silverstone: “We’re still far from the top ten”. Williams finds improvement at Silverstone, but Carlos Sainz says more performance is needed.

Williams, Carlos Sainz: “The upgrades helped, but we’re still a long way off”

The upgrades Williams introduced at Silverstone have delivered the improvements the team expected, but they have only solved part of the FW48’s performance issues. The new aerodynamic package, centred around a revised front wing, has given the car a modest step forward, although it has not significantly changed the team’s position in the competitive order.

Williams remains near the back of the field, ahead of only Aston Martin, Cadillac and Haas. While the new package has brought measurable gains, it has not yet been enough to move the Grove-based team into the battle for the top ten. According to Carlos Sainz, Racing Bulls and Audi still hold an advantage of around half a second per lap.

Williams sees progress, but the gap is still too large

Reflecting on the team’s performance, Carlos Sainz acknowledged that the upgrades had worked, even if the overall gain was smaller than expected.

“It was a small step, probably smaller than we had hoped. The new front wing seems to be working well and it allowed us to go from being behind one or two Haas cars to qualifying ahead of them. Unfortunately, we’re still a long way from the top ten, but today’s lap was probably one of the best I’ve driven all season.”

Williams team principal James Vowles also gave a positive assessment of the new package, explaining that the FW48 has become more consistent and competitive through the corners.

However, he highlighted one major weakness that still needs to be addressed.

“It seems we’re losing a significant amount of time on the straights. We need to understand where this problem is coming from because solving it will be the key to unlocking our next step in performance.”

Energy management expected to play a crucial role

Looking ahead to both the Sprint and the Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz expects energy management to become one of the defining factors at Silverstone.

“We’ll often be forced to decide where to use our energy and where to save it. I think we’ll continue to see races with constant ‘yo-yo’ effects between drivers who are attacking and those who are harvesting energy.”

His comments underline one of the biggest themes of the 2026 Formula 1 season, with hybrid energy management increasingly shaping race strategy and making performance swings from one circuit to another more difficult to predict than ever before.