Carlos Sainz delivers brutal verdict on Williams progress: “I’m not convinced”

The Spaniard believes Williams is making progress in understanding its weaknesses, but questioned whether the team currently has the production and manufacturing capacity required to deliver major upgrades at the same speed as its competitors.

Sainz pointed specifically to Aston Martin's ability to introduce a significant upgrade at the Hungarian Grand Prix as the benchmark Williams needs to reach.

When asked if Williams are making the progress, understanding and advances that the team needs, Sainz told reporters: "The understanding, yes. The capacity to put together an upgrade, like Aston has done in the middle of a year I think we still need to see. I'm not so convinced.

Sainz was involved in a controversial tangle with Oscar Piastri when being lapped by the McLaren driver during the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Spaniard received a five-second penalty, but there have been calls for him to receive further punishment at the Dutch GP after the summer break.

Sainz's comments were echoed by teammate Alex Albon during the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, as Williams slipped behind Aston Martin in the pecking order.

Speaking to GPblog among other media, Albon said that he could "only dream" of an upgrade like Aston Martin had at the Hungaroring.

He added: "Was it net, their gain one and a half to two seconds? Fair play to them. I mean, we're going to be fighting with them in some races purely because of the straight line speed. But I can tell you, in the corners, they're considerably faster than us. I mean, it's eye opening because also for us, I think we know what our upgrade is, it's not that. So we have work to do."