Carlos Sainz: 'Extremely frustrating and depressing' races starting to take a toll

Carlos Sainz admits the string of poor results at Williams has left him feeling deflated and mentally drained. Speaking to media including Sportskeeda, after the British GP, the Spanish driver reflected on another race where a potential points finish was taken away by circumstances beyond his control.

Since joining the Grove-based team, Sainz has struggled to find his rhythm. With just 13 points from 12 races, he has fallen short of teammate Alex Albon, who has scored 46. The season has been riddled with setbacks, including two retirements and a DNS in Austria, compounding a challenging start to life at Williams.

At Silverstone, Sainz started ahead of Albon in 9th and was on course for points, running as high as seventh during the race. But a clash with former teammate Charles Leclerc, who lost control in damp conditions, forced him out of the top ten. Despite the team delivering a well-executed strategy, his efforts were once again undone by an incident he could do little about.

Carlos Sainz admitted that the continuous run of such misfortunes has taken a toll. He described it as disheartening, exhausting and deeply discouraging, especially when strong performances and clean weekends have failed to translate into results.

Asked by Sportskeeda about the busy pitlane and strategy that panned out during the British GP, Sainz replied:

“Yeah, we had definitely a busy pit lane all the time. We were all trying to come in at similar times. Typical race like this. That's why I'm glad that as a team, we executed a solid race. It's yes that. Honestly, it's so frustrating to have so many of these issues or things out of your control in a row. I cannot explain to you how you feel as an athlete when you keep going to a simulator, doing all your marketing events, putting a happy face, doing all your free practice, doing everything you can to score a good result.

"In the race you take your risks, you do everything right, the strategy you call and then something like this out of your control happens and you're out. Now we need to wait another two weeks to go racing but it gets to a point where it's just extremely frustrating and depressing.”

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Carlos Sainz is unhappy with his 2025 season with Williams

Since his switch from Ferrari to Williams for the 2025 season, Carlos Sainz has endured a rocky start to his campaign. His season began on the back foot with retirements in the opening two rounds and hit a low point in Austria, where he was unable to even start the race.

At the British GP, just as he was poised for a points finish, misfortune struck again. Running comfortably inside the top 10, Sainz was hit by Charles Leclerc, who lost control on slick tyres in damp conditions. The contact damaged Sainz’s car and dropped him down the order, ultimately finishing 12th and outside the points once more.

Reflecting on the incident, the Williams driver expressed disappointment with how his season has unfolded but did not place the blame on Leclerc. He admitted it was an unfortunate racing moment that could have happened to anyone, yet he couldn’t hide his growing frustration over a campaign marred by setbacks and missed opportunities. He believes the British GP race reflected the disappointing theme of his season at large.

Describing his race in a dejected tone, Carlos Sainz said:

“It was going well, a bit like the whole year so far. We were doing everything right: good strategy goals, good driving, P7, P8 at the time, 10 laps to go. When I was fighting with Charles, I think he was on his out lap on the slicks. He lost control of the car and crashed into me. I went back to P-12 with a damaged car, and I finished P-12, so again, very unlikely.”

He added:

“I've been fed up with this situation where always something happens to us that is out of our control. No offense to Charles, this always can happen to any driver, but just upset with the fact that it happened to me today again when we were about to have a clean weekend and a clean race.”

Carlos Sainz is still searching for a breakthrough weekend in the 2025 season, with no clean race yielding a significant haul of points so far. Currently 15th in the Drivers’ standings with just 13 points, it’s a stark contrast from his time at Ferrari, where top-10 championship finishes were a regular feature.

Meanwhile, his teammate Alex Albon has emerged as the standout performer in the midfield. With 46 points to his name, Albon sits eighth in the standings and has consistently extracted the best from the Williams package. Now in his fourth season with the Grove-based outfit, Albon’s familiarity with the car, team dynamics and technical nuances has been a clear advantage.

For Carlos Sainz, the transition has been anything but smooth. Adapting to the Mercedes power unit and the unique characteristics of the car’s suspension has posed a challenge. In the Constructors’ championship, Williams currently hold fifth place with 59 points, but Sauber is closing in fast, threatening to shake up the midfield order.