Williams confirm internal F1 review as Carlos Sainz exit rumours swirl

James Vowles, Alex Albon, Carlos Sainz — Photo: © IMAGO

Williams

Williams confirm internal F1 review as Carlos Sainz exit rumours swirl

Carlos Sainz has been linked with a move away from the team

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Monday 13 July 2026 15:55

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Williams F1 team principal James Vowles has revealed that an internal review of the team's progress throughout 2026 will be undertaken.

Williams have struggled throughout 2026 so far, only picking up 11 points from the first nine grand prix weekends and sitting down in eighth in the constructors' championship, despite finishing fifth in that championship last year.

The new regulations have seen the team take a step backwards, despite really believing ahead of the season that they would help them to take a step closer to the top four teams in the sport.

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Star driver Carlos Sainz has only picked up six points so far and has not been happy with the team's progress, after the four-time grand prix winner had managed to pick up two podiums last year.

The Spaniard is still regarded as one of the best drivers on the entire grid, and found himself at Williams after Ferrari opted to sign seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, displacing Sainz.

But he is only contracted at Williams until the end of 2026, and there have been plenty of rumours linking him with a move to the likes of Audi, Red Bull and Aston Martin in the last few months.

Williams started the season off with a poor car, and have not been able to make the kind of progress they hoped as the early stages of the season has played out, despite bringing a plethora of upgrades to the FW48.

The British Grand Prix last time out was particularly dismal, with Sainz finishing the main race down in 17th, and Alex Albon not able to finish the race at all after an early crash.

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Williams launch review into upgrade progress

As a result, Williams have launched a two-week internal review into their upgrade programme and the rate at which their 2026 car is progressing, with team principal Vowles not happy with the team's progress.

If they are to keep Sainz at the team for 2027 and beyond, it's clear that they need to improve at a much faster rate in the remainder of 2026 to prove to the four-time grand prix winner that they are the team with whom he can return to winning ways.

"I would say right now what's clear is our rate of bringing performance to the car - which is a little bit nuanced in how I mean that - is not at the rate required in order for us to move forward," Vowles said on the latest episode of The Vowles Verdict.

"Step one of all of that is to make sure that we take time to fully understand not just what we've done in Silverstone, but really what we've done across the entire season.

"All of them have clues and evidence as to what went well and what didn't at the same time. How quickly we evaluate that, and typically I would expect that to be done within the next two weeks, then defines what we do in Spa, what we do in Budapest, what we do across the remainder of the season and what we do going into next year at the same time.

"Now that is, I would say, business as usual for a Formula 1 team. The amount of highs and lows you get, the amount of learning you get, the amount of failures you get, the difference to expectations that does change week on week.

"But it is just the nature of a business that is bringing performance, bringing you items that didn't exist previously. They didn't exist in the world. And to a certain extent, no one else certainly provides you with data, but no one else has done it. So we have to be learning on the fly as a result of that."

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F1 Carlos Sainz Williams James Vowles