Sainz: Williams Miami Upgrade Delivers, But Full Recovery Still Months Away

Carlos Sainz described Williams' Miami upgrade as “the car that was supposed to come to Race 1” after the team scored its first double-points finish of the season. The Spaniard's ninth place helped Williams leapfrog Audi into eighth in the constructors' standings, but he cautioned that the car still lags behind midfield leaders like Alpine.

Why it matters:

Williams entered the 2026 season with a heavy, delayed car due to build issues that stalled pre-season preparations. The Miami package—primarily aimed at shedding weight—finally brings the car to its intended baseline. However, the team remains well short of its pre-season expectations, and the path to full recovery will take most of the European season.

The details:

• The upgrade focused on reducing excess weight that had hobbled the car since race 1. Sainz confirmed “we finally put on the upgrade of the car that was supposed to come to Race 1.”
• Sainz classified Williams as “sixth fastest” in Miami, but noted Alpine was “20 seconds in front” on pure pace before a safety car closed the gap.
• Weight still a major issue: “We still have a lot of weight to shed off the car,” Sainz said. The team has additional weight-saving updates planned for the next few races.
• The double-points result moved Williams to eighth in the standings, 9 points behind Racing Bulls, 13 behind Haas, and 18 behind Alpine.

What's next:

Sainz laid out a clear timeline for recovery: the turnaround will continue through the first two-thirds of the season, with a proper solution expected by mid-September, after the European leg.

• “It's going to take some months to finish the turnaround,” he said. “We need to get to the last third of the season to see a proper turnaround.”
• The team will keep pushing updates, but the gap to the frontrunners remains “huge.” Sainz urged the team to use Miami as motivation, not relief: “It's still not where we expected to be at the end of last year.”