Carlos Sainz Jr crossed the finish line of the 2025 Hungarian Grand Prix in fourteenth position, marking yet another race without any points for the Williams Formula 1 team.
After fourteen rounds of the 2025 Formula 1 World Championship, Carlos Sainz Jr has managed to collect only 16 points and currently sits in sixteenth place in the Drivers’ Championship standings. In stark contrast, his team-mate Alexander Albon is enjoying a much stronger campaign and currently holds eighth place in the same standings.
The Spanish driver from Madrid still appears to be struggling to fully adapt to his new Williams car after his move from Scuderia Ferrari at the end of the 2024 season. During a difficult qualifying session at the Hungaroring, Carlos Sainz Jr only managed to secure thirteenth place on the starting grid, just behind Lewis Hamilton. Unfortunately, during the race, he was unable to turn things around and ended the Grand Prix in fourteenth position, finishing just ahead of his Williams team-mate, Alexander Albon.
Strategy choices and race execution
The former Ferrari driver evaluated his Hungarian Grand Prix performance in a composed and objective manner. Speaking to the media after the race, Carlos Sainz Jr explained: “We tried a two-stop strategy. Most of the field, I believe, opted for a one-stop, which probably turned out to be the faster strategy. Today, regardless of whether we stopped once or twice, the car simply did not have the pace to go beyond thirteenth place, which is where we should have finished if not for the incident with Pierre Gasly.”
Carlos Sainz Jr appeared visibly frustrated and did not hold back in expressing his disappointment. He admitted candidly: “So yes, that’s the position we deserve. The mood is disappointing because in the races where the car was competitive, we failed to maximise the points.”
Despite having a clean weekend with no major mistakes or mechanical problems on the car, Carlos Sainz Jr was still unable to mount a significant recovery during the race. Reflecting on his race weekend in Budapest, the Spanish driver stated with a resigned tone: “This weekend the car felt low, we had a clean race without any issues, but still we didn’t manage to score any points. So we just hope that things will be different in the second half of the season.”
The Hungarian Grand Prix added to the growing list of underwhelming performances for Carlos Sainz Jr in his first season with Williams. As the championship heads into its second half after the summer break, both Sainz and the team will be hoping for a change in fortunes and a more competitive car package that allows them to consistently fight for points again.
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