{"id":770814,"date":"2026-06-30T10:07:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T10:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/770814\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T10:07:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T10:07:11","slug":"formula-1-news-sainz-sr-says-williams-faces-long-road-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/770814\/","title":{"rendered":"Formula 1 News: Sainz Sr. says Williams faces long road back"},"content":{"rendered":"

(GMM) Carlos Sainz Jr.\u2019s father (Jr. and Sr. pictured together) has admitted Williams is unlikely to make major progress this season, as speculation continues to swirl about his son\u2019s next move.<\/p>\n

Reports are linking Sainz Jr. with potential opportunities elsewhere in 2027, although the Spaniard has repeatedly insisted his immediate focus remains on helping Williams recover.<\/p>\n

Related Rumor: Sainz Jr. eyes move to Audi as Williams falters<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"55 Carlos Sainz, (ESP), Williams Mercedes Fw48, during the Austrian GP, Spielberg 25-28 June 2026, Red Bull Ring, Formula 1 World championship 2026.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the opening of Plenergy\u2019s 400th service station<\/a>, where he was appearing as a brand ambassador, two-time World Rally champion Carlos Sainz Sr defended his son\u2019s performances.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe philosophy of life has to be to never give up,\u201d he is quoted as saying by Spanish newspapers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn difficult times, you have to have a clear plan and grit your teeth. That\u2019s what Carlos is doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s having a fantastic year because, well, with what he has, he can\u2019t do more. And above all, he\u2019s showing that he hasn\u2019t given up even though he\u2019s fighting at the back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sainz Sr poured cold water on expectations of a dramatic turnaround at Williams before the end of the season. \u201cThe gap is too great,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s clear they\u2019re going to improve. But the pace of improvement has to be so spectacular that maybe they\u2019ll improve enough to be fighting for a place in Q2, but little more.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that the current performance gap across Formula 1 is disappointing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve gone from the most competitive F1 in history to seeing differences of four seconds,\u201d said Sainz senior. \u201cLet\u2019s hope that little by little Williams and the entire grid will close the gap so the spectacle is better and the first car doesn\u2019t lap the seventh.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking further ahead, Sainz Sr said the looming arrival of Formula 1 in Madrid will at least give his son a home race close to home.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough I wish it had been under different circumstances, he\u2019s sure to enjoy having a race 20 minutes from his house. That will give him special motivation and, in any case, there are nine more years of the Grand Prix ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Williams driver himself also reiterated that Williams has slipped backwards compared to last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year I would have said yes, but this year I think we\u2019ve taken a step backward that leaves us further behind,\u201d he said when asked whether podiums and victories might be in the team\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a fact.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cBut if you do things really well, as Red Bull, Mercedes in the past, and McLaren have shown, you can compete for wins in a few years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing is, you need the right people and the right environment to be able to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sainz also rejected suggestions that he is defined more by hard work than natural ability.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt bothers me when things are oversimplified,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it doesn\u2019t bother me that people think I\u2019m a very hard worker.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fact, it flatters me, and I prefer to be considered a good professional than a slacker.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"55 Carlos Sainz, (ESP), Williams Mercedes Fw48, during the Barcelona-Catalunya GP, Barcelona 11-14 June 2026, Montemel\u00f2 Formula 1 World championship 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(GMM) Carlos Sainz Jr.\u2019s father (Jr. and Sr. pictured together) has admitted Williams is unlikely to make major…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":770815,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":["post-770814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=770814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/770815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=770814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=770814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=770814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}