One driver "could already smell in December" Williams' 2026 F1 "bump"

Carlos Sainz says he expected “a bump” in Williams' Formula 1 progress already at the end of last year, but admits it's been more surprising than he imagined.

The team got its 2026 season off to a bad start when it missed the first test in Barcelona due to production delays, and it soon emerged that there was a serious weight problem with the FW48.

That combined with a lack of downforce has meant Williams is currently nowhere near the sort of form that saw it claim fifth in the constructors’ world championship last season.

“For sure, it'ss been a shock, for me, for the team, for James [Vowles], for Alex [Albon], for all the engineers,” Carlos Sainz admitted on Thursday ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix. “I think it's no secret that it's been tough.

“I could already smell it coming in December, January. I started bracing for the bump, because we already started having these conversations of delays, not arriving to that first test, starting hearing the overweight numbers. And I said, ‘It doesn't look very promising to start.’

“I knew at some point Williams was going to hit a bump. Not all the roads to success are linear. There was always going to be a bump. This bump is big, probably even bigger than what I expected.”

Sainz has taken a glass half-full approach, as he believes that the current setbacks will ultimately make the team stronger by highlighting any shortcomings in the camp.

“Now it's about resilience and how you recover from the bump,” he said.

“Because if this bump is going to help to eliminate all the bad things that the team had intrinsic into the way we were doing the production, into the way we were doing the design, into the way we were delivering overweight chassis or overweight components, if is going to kill the little, let's say, viruses that we had as a team, and we recover well from this, then it could create the opposite effect, a big jump in performance.

“So for me now is seeing and observing the way that we are able to jump back from a bump that was big, much bigger than what I think everyone expected.”

Sainz took advantage of a high attrition race in Shanghai to finish a surprise ninth, and he concedes that a repeat any time soon will again rely on misfortune for others.

“I think we will need some help of our rivals, like we did in China, to score points right now,” he said.

“It was very clear in China, both qualies P17, which were very good laps. And that was P17 two or three tenths off the nearest car of the midfield, so a bit in no-man's land right now.

“And I don't think Suzuka in that case will be very different. It's only been two weeks since then, and in two weeks, F1 teams cannot produce any miracles in such a short period of time.

“We have some tests. We have some things to try this weekend to see we are a bit more competitive. But we need a lot more than just a few tenths here and there in order to get in the fight.”

Williams will fly its chassis back to the UK after Suzuka and will use the break before Miami to address the weight issues.

"We will do a big push over that month to come up with something for Miami that is a good step forward,” said Sainz.

“At the same time in this sport, everything is relative, so you can bring a big step forward that if the others bring a big step then you haven't moved forward, you're still three tenths behind the midfield.

“So it's more about how much of a bigger step forward you bring to the rest of the teams. And I hope that in that case, obviously, we know we have a lot of weight to take out of the car. We have a lot of downforce to add. It will be how much we are able to do for Miami.”