Carlos Sainz: ‘We’re starting again, but with strong foundations’

Carlos looks ahead to his second season with Atlassian Williams F1 Team

Published

05 FEB 2026

Est. reading time

3 min

With the 2026 Formula 1 season ushering in one of the biggest regulation resets the sport has ever seen, Carlos Sainz is preparing for a year that combines the unfamiliar with the reassuring.

The Spaniard enters his second season with Atlassian Williams F1 Team having already laid solid foundations during an impressive first campaign, one that delivered multiple podium finishes and helped the team secure P5 in the Constructors’ Championship.

But while continuity off track will help, Carlos knows that the reset button has been firmly pressed as Formula 1 embarks on a new technical era.

“In many ways, a second season with the team will feel very different,” Carlos explained. “I’ve met all the people I needed to meet and I know all the core members of the team, which makes everything a lot more streamlined.

“At the same time, everything will be completely new all over again. It’s a completely new car and a completely new set of regulations, so all the experience I gained with the FW47 is down to zero. We have to build that knowledge again – and that’s something I’m very excited about.”

Looking back on his first year in blue, Carlos believes the results reflected both ambition and progress – and provided a platform to build upon.

The team celebrates Carlos' 2025 Azerbaijan GP podium

“My expectations were always high coming into this project with Williams,” he said. “If you’d told me at the beginning of last year that we’d score a couple of podiums, a sprint podium, and finish P5 in the Constructors’ Championship with drivers inside the top ten, I would have said that’s a really good year.

“We had a very solid first season together, and now we need to build from it.”

That sense of renewal is amplified by the arrival of the 2026 regulations, which Carlos views as both a challenge and an opportunity.

“It’s exciting because everyone starts from a clean sheet of paper,” he said. “We want to maximise that opportunity as much as possible. At the same time, I would have liked a couple more years with the previous regulations to keep transferring my knowledge to the team.

“But one of the main reasons I chose Williams was because I trusted the trajectory of the project heading into these new regulations. I’m hoping we can take another good step in the right direction.”

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Given the scale of change across the sport, Carlos is realistic about setting expectations for the year ahead.

“It’s almost impossible to set targets right now,” he admitted. “This is probably the biggest regulation change since 2014, maybe even bigger.

“For me, success will be about seeing progress in the areas where we know we still need to improve. If we can keep seeing a positive trend from where we finished last year, that’s the most important thing.”

Continuity in the cockpit is another strength for Williams heading into the new era, with Carlos and Alex Albon entering their second season together as teammates.

“Our working relationship was very good from the beginning,” Carlos said. “Now we know each other very well – our strengths, our weaknesses, and how we can help each other.

“Combining his experience with mine, and having a healthy, competitive relationship, can really help the team. I think experience is going to be especially important going into a new set of regulations.”

Off track, Williams’ momentum continues to grow, with a host of new partners joining the team ahead of 2026 – something Carlos sees as a powerful signal of belief in the project.

“I’d like to welcome all our new partners and thank them for supporting Williams and our trajectory,” he said. “They’re going to be fundamental in helping transform this team into a championship-winning one in the future.

“I’m very proud to be part of a team that so many important brands want to join. With their help, we can push forward together towards a better future.”

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