Sainz sends warning to Williams over 2028 ambitions: "How long am I willing to wait?"
Photo: Race Pictures
10:24, 21 Jun
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Kieran Lynch
Carlos Sainz has admitted he is considering how long he is prepared to wait for Williams to return to the front of Formula 1, as fears their goals might have been delayed by "a few months or a year".
Williams team principal James Vowles previously highlighted the 2028 season as a realistic target when it comes to the team fighting at the front of the field and competing for victories. However, Williams have taken a step back in 2026, and have only 11 points between Sainz and Alex Albon after seven races.
Sainz, speaking to Mundo Deportivo, has acknowledged that Williams' step backwards this season may have delayed the team's progress. He does not intend to wait for success to arrive and insisted he will push the Grove outfit to challenge the frontrunners earlier than planned, as he weighs up how long he is willing to wait to win again in Formula 1.
Sainz says Williams are "further away than expected"
In an interview with the Spanish publication, Sainz still supports Vowles in his belief that Williams can fight with the top teams in the future, even if their slow start to 2026 means those goals have been pushed back by up to a year.
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"I think it is now a realistic goal, but it is also true that the step backwards we have taken this year may have delayed that goal by a few months or a year. I don't know exactly how much he has delayed it in my idea of time, of what I thought it was going to take for this project to be a team to win.
"It is true that last year we were closer than expected to the leaders, and this year further away than expected, so maybe one thing balances the other and it is something that I am working on, also in my head, how long I am willing to wait to win again in Formula 1 and I want that time to be as short as possible and that's why, even if James says 2028, I'm going to push the team to be earlier."
Read also
Sainz proposes radical F1 idea
The Williams driver suggested a radical F1 shakeup, which would effectively separate drivers and teams. It would involve each driver appearing for each team over two races, driving for each outfit on the F1 grid across the season.
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"I've always thought of a category where you do 20 races and each driver runs two races with each car. So the driver is part of F1, he is not part of a team, he is an F1 customer that Formula 1 hires to take the cars. Then I would have my chance to do two races with Williams, two with Mercedes, two with Ferrari, all the riders would have exactly the same chance of winning the World Championship."
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