Carlos Sainz revealed that “major changes” have been instigated behind the scenes at Williams, in a move not common while a season is active.

But, while this is making things “quite uncomfortable”, the Spaniard explained that Williams wants to take the pain now, with an FW48 which is not up to scoring points, and ensure a stronger base to build from in F1 2027.

Carlos Sainz reveals Williams ‘massive changes’ amid FW48 struggles

Williams was a team generating major buzz going into the new ruleset, following impressive 2025 progress.

However, with just 12 points scored so far in F1 2026, the team finds itself ninth in the Constructors’ standings, ahead of only Aston Martin and Cadillac.

An FW48 which had been on a major diet arrived in Baku, improving the team’s performance, but still only one point has been scored since.

Asked ahead of the United States Grand Prix whether this chassis is good enough to challenge for points, Sainz’s response was telling.

“No, it’s not,” he confessed.

“It is a car that is good enough to get into Q2 with a very good lap in Q1, and race from there. And if the others make mistakes and they get things very wrong, then maybe you can get a point like we got in Baku.

“But the reality is that our position is not to score points. The lightweight chassis has worked and is giving us the opportunity to get into Q2 three consecutive times since Baku, but as soon as the race settles and everyone gets into their pace, it’s, right now, I don’t think better, in a normal race, than top 15. Top 14 is very difficult.”

On that note, Sainz was quizzed on whether the remaining six races of the season are therefore about laying the F1 2027 foundations for Williams.

“Yeah, I think it’s exactly that.”

To what extent, is rather eye-opening.

Latest F1 2026 talking points on PlanetF1.com

“We’re going through some massive changes inside the team, and we are investing these last nine races of the year to challenge ourselves to change things in the middle of a Formula 1 season which you would never wait until the break to change them [sic],” Sainz continued.

“But now the team has taken that direction. Clear leadership by the top management to say, even if we are in the middle of the season, just change everything, change what needs to be changed.

“It’s quite uncomfortable because we’re changing things that even on the middle of an F1 weekend, you feel like you’re leaving lap time on the table, or that you’re doing too many things.

“But it’s with a target or with an intention of getting things out of the way with a car that we know is very difficult to score points with, and making sure we hit the ground running next year.”

Both Sainz and teammate Alex Albon have committed to the F1 2027 campaign with Williams, as the Grove-based squad looks to get its journey to the upper echelons of the grid back on track.