Carlos Sainz Pressure Triggers Early Williams Upgrade Push

Williams fast-tracked a major upgrade to Spa after Carlos Sainz voiced growing frustration over strategy errors and reliability setbacks in the fight for fifth in the constructors’ standings.

“I could have had 20 or 30 more points,” said Sainz, who has been outspoken about missed opportunities. “One mistake that costs you ten milliseconds can ruin your entire weekend.”

Team boss James Vowles admitted the team had to react. “We had it in the wind tunnel in March,” he said of the new package, which overhauled the cooling intakes, sidepods, and underbody. “Because the opponents were getting closer, we brought it forward by two races.”

The parts were originally scheduled post-break, but rivals Alpine, Sauber, and Toro Rosso had all closed the gap with earlier upgrades. “It was a masterpiece to get the parts ready for Spa. We couldn’t have done that a year ago,” Vowles added.

Albon and Sainz delivered 11 points at Spa, helping Williams reassert its grip on P5. “It shows how this team has developed,” said Albon.

Meanwhile, the long-running cooling issue is close to resolution. “We had another temporary solution at Spa. It still cost a bit of lap time,” said Vowles. “There will be a permanent solution at the next race or the one after that.”

Operations head Dave Robson said it was “difficult to identify a pattern” in the fault, which first emerged in Singapore last year.