Sainz believes Williams have ‘surprised me in some very good ways’ amid team’s solid 2025 form

Carlos Sainz admits that the Williams team has "surprised me in some very good ways" as both the Spaniard and team mate Alex Albon hope to continue their impressive run of form this weekend at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Sainz joined the Grove-based outfit for the 2025 campaign having lost his seat at Ferrari to seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton, despite scoring four wins in four seasons.

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Having joined Williams, many expected Sainz to lack a competitive package this year until new regulation changes come in for 2026, but instead the 30-year-old has been impressed by the start to the current season.

Sainz has finished in the points at four of the seven Grands Prix this year, including three on the bounce, which included eighth at the most recent race at Imola.

"I moved to a team that I knew had the potential to one day be at the level or even better than Ferrari. If not, I wouldn't have chosen Williams," said Sainz, when asked if he was surprised how close Williams was pushing his former team on track this year.

"I truly believe that Williams had this potential when I moved and I chose this team to do this part of my career but it's come earlier than expected. The team has surprised me in some very good ways.

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"I realise also that I can make a difference when the team listens to me and puts all the effort to improve the areas where I'm asking the team to improve, and it's giving me confidence that I know how to guide the team towards the right path and I think together with Alex, we're doing a very good job in that and we're going in a very strong direction.

"We've developed a car that hasn't really developed a lot in the wind tunnel, we're developing with set-up and ideas that is definitely giving us opportunities to fight for things that a year ago no one would have thought about."

Team mate Albon, who is embarking on his fourth season with Williams, has performed even better, achieving six points finishes in the seven Grands Prix so far this season.

This included fifth at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, having looked at one stage like a podium was possible after running ahead of Oscar Piastri and fighting with the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.

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"What’s been good for us generally is we’ve made a step everywhere, said Albon.

"Our race pace is normally worse than our Saturdays, but the last couple of weekends we’ve been on the money. It’s been really enjoyable, more than anything to mix it with the top teams. It’s a nice change.

"It’s interesting because the last couple of tracks… we knew Miami would suit us, but we weren’t sure about Imola. We made set-up changes along the way, but not to the point of where we were at. We’re kind of on the line of careful optimism."