It is not only seven-time Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton who is encountering difficulties when facing a new teammate after switching to a different team. Beyond the well-documented challenges facing any driver promoted from the Red Bull junior programme to race alongside Max Verstappen—first Liam Lawson and now Yuki Tsunoda—the same pattern can be seen with Carlos Sainz. The Spanish driver, who had to unwillingly give up his Ferrari seat to Lewis Hamilton, is also experiencing a tough time at his new team, Williams. At the halfway mark of the 2025 Formula 1 season, Sainz has scored less than one-third of the points accumulated by his teammate Alexander Albon.
Head-to-head: Albon versus Sainz
Despite a recent dip in performance, Williams is currently holding onto fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship. With a total of 59 points, the team enjoys an 18-point lead over Sauber, who climbed to sixth place after Nico Hülkenberg’s surprising podium finish at the British Grand Prix in Silverstone. Of those 59 points, 46 have been scored by Albon, who currently holds an impressive eighth place in the Drivers’ Championship, with a 9-point cushion over Nico Hülkenberg and a 23-point lead over Isack Hadjar, who rounds out the top ten. By contrast, Carlos Sainz sits only fifteenth in the standings, with just 13 points to his name.
In race-day comparisons, the advantage clearly lies with Albon. He leads Sainz 8–3 in Grands Prix—excluding the Austrian Grand Prix, where both drivers retired—and 2–0 in Sprint races. Qualifying has been more evenly matched, though Albon still maintains the upper hand with a 7–5 lead, and an additional 2–0 edge in Sprint Qualifying sessions. On average, the qualifying gap between the two drivers stands at 0.16 seconds in favour of the former Red Bull driver.
The impact of unlucky incidents
Carlos Sainz’s recent weekends have been marked by misfortune. At the Red Bull Ring, the Spanish driver was unable to even start the Austrian Grand Prix due to a brake issue that forced him to retire at the end of the formation lap. At Silverstone, a potential top-ten finish vanished following a collision with Charles Leclerc, which damaged Sainz’s front wing and forced an unscheduled pit stop.
Yet the gap in the standings between Sainz and Albon—who also retired in Austria but secured eighth place in Britain—is not solely down to bad luck. It also reflects a consistent shortfall in race performance compared to his Thai teammate. In the Grands Prix both drivers have completed, Sainz has finished ahead of Albon only once, in Saudi Arabia, where he came home in eighth place, just one position ahead of Albon.
Sainz also paid dearly for his costly mistake in Australia, where he crashed out in the rain at Melbourne, while Albon secured a solid fifth-place result. Another significant loss came in Miami: Albon once again finished fifth, while Sainz could manage no better than ninth. That race saw the Spaniard involved in two separate incidents—one at the start with his teammate, and another late in the race while attempting to overtake Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari.
Sainz: “Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong”
These repeated setbacks have visibly affected Carlos Sainz, who expressed frustration with how the season has unfolded:
“I think everything that could possibly go wrong this year has gone wrong for me. We are looking forward to ending this streak of negative races, because we’re making too many mistakes for the kind of car we have.”
Nevertheless, the Spanish driver is drawing some comfort from the car’s inherent speed, and remains optimistic about what the future may hold.
“The only thing that makes me smile is the pace I have in the car, and the speed shown by the team. I know we should have been at the top of the midfield in every race weekend—except maybe in Barcelona and a couple of other places. The speed is there, I feel confident and comfortable behind the wheel. We just need a bit of luck when it comes to race execution and reliability. We’re simply encountering too many problems for the car we’ve got, but at some point, that will change. Once I gain a bit of momentum, I know exactly what we’re capable of.”
A long-term bet for 2026
Williams have invested heavily in Carlos Sainz with a clear eye on the long-term future, particularly the 2026 Formula 1 season. The team, based in Grove, has already shifted attention and resources toward preparing for the new technical regulations. This strategic approach also allows Sainz to face the current difficulties with less pressure, aiming to navigate the second half of the season with fewer unlucky incidents before fully resetting and starting fresh for the next World Championship campaign.
Under the leadership of Team Principal James Vowles, Williams is determined to make a significant leap forward in 2026 and become a genuine contender for top positions. Sainz, as part of this ambitious plan, is expected to play a central role in the team’s resurgence.
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