Carlos Sainz reckons Williams have to be impressed by Aston Martin’s turnaround in qualifying on the Hungarian Grand Prix, because it highlights what’s potential for his struggling Method 1 squad.
Sainz took 18th on the Hungaroring with team-mate Alex Albon in nineteenth, marking the fifth consecutive event through which Williams has had not less than one driver out in Q1.
Though each certified forward of Lance Stroll in twentieth, Saturday was extra optimistic for the latter’s Aston Martin team-mate Fernando Alonso, who reached Q2 for the primary time in 2026 with sixteenth.
It got here after Aston Martin’s first main improve of the season with a radically completely different chassis – an engine replace will come subsequent in Zandvoort – to offer the squad a much-needed enhance.
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That’s as a result of the Silverstone outfit had comfortably been till now F1’s slowest outfit, round two seconds off the tempo, however the Hungary improve confirmed how rapidly conditions can change.
So, Sainz has urged Williams to take notice forward of deliberate updates for Baku in September, which workforce boss James Vowles beforehand claimed could be “virtually a completely new automotive”.
Carlos Sainz, Williams
Photograph by: Clive Mason / Getty Photographs
“As a workforce, we have to see it in a optimistic method, and I would like everybody to be optimistic about it slightly than scared,” mentioned Sainz, who’s with no level since Canada 5 rounds in the past.
“If something, for me it simply proves that once you perceive what your limitations are and also you see one other Method 1 workforce with comparable services to you, having such a giant turnaround and including so many factors of downforce to the automotive inside six months, the braveness is there for us to show to them and ourselves that we will do the identical.
“And if we’re not doing the identical, why? Why do not we’ve got that capability? So for me what’s necessary transferring ahead is to point out that we will even have the capability to do a turnaround like one other midfield workforce simply did in entrance of us.
“So, Aston went from having a worse downforce, worse chassis than us in Spa, to having the perfect midfield downforce proper now.
“So, it’s there for us to go discover the answer so as to add downforce and discover the evolution. So I see it positively in a method that the workforce needs to be that and saying, ‘yeah it’s potential if you happen to do issues proper’.”
However effectively delivering updates is less complicated mentioned than finished, notably as a result of Williams has beforehand struggled with the manufacturing of its 2026 automotive, resulting in it skipping the Barcelona shakedown.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing
Photograph by: Steven Tee / LAT Photographs by way of Getty Photographs
So, Sainz thinks “we nonetheless have to see” how a lot of an affect the upgrades in Azerbaijan can have, which Williams hopes will sort out its FW48’s weight downside and common automotive efficiency.
Albon isn’t so optimistic although, as he mentioned: “I do not know what sort of improve that Aston had, I might solely dream of that, we might solely dream of an improve like that.
“Truthful play to them. We’re going to be combating with them in some races purely due to the straight line velocity, however I can inform you within the corners they’re significantly quicker than us.
“It is eye-opening as a result of additionally for us, I believe we all know what our Baku improve is, it is not that, so we’ve got work to do.”
Pictures from Hungarian GP – Sunday
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