Carlos Sainz was ruthless booted from his Ferrari seat this season, to make way for seven times champion Lewis Hamilton. With more than half the season complete, the Spaniard may be quietly smiling to himself given the difficulties Hamilton has found adjusting to his new team, after a record breaking partnership between him and the Mercedes team.

Yet the switch for Carlos has been no walk in the park in particular he has found the Mercedes power unit significantly different for the one he was used to in Maranello. “Definitely the thing you feel the most when you change teams, the moment there’s a power unit involved, it’s the power unit,” Sainz told assembled media in Monaco.

“The way the power unit operates in terms of switches, especially nowadays in Formula 1 with so much going on on our steering wheels, with the deployment, the battery, things like this, procedures, safety procedures of the engine and the power unit, it’s all definitely the biggest change that I’m having to adapt so far in Williams,” reported the Spaniard.

 

 

 

Sainz struggled to adjust at Williams

At the season opener, Sainz looked comfortable in the Williams as he qualified inside the top ten in his all new F1 car. Yet in wet/dry conditions the field was neutralised on lap one following Jack Doohan hitting there barriers at turn six and Sainz proved the conditions weren’t just tricky for the rookies as he lost the rear end of his Williams in the final corner ending his debut in less than spectacular fashion.

Williams revival from perennial back of the field F1 competitors has been impressive this season. Alex Albon’s fifth place in Melbourne saw the team lead the midfield pack behind the four front runners. Twelve top ten finishes in the first eight weekends of competition, saw Williams build a points lead a long way ahead of their rivals and despite a run of recent poor results, they remain ahead of their closest competition Aston Martin with the tally’s 70-52 in Williams favour.

Yet Sainz has continued to struggle with is new team, whilst Alex Albon is a metric eight in the drivers standings having claimed 70 points during this campaign. The Spaniard by comparison has just 16 points and in 16th place he lies behind Red Bull rookies Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar. Yet talent will always show through and its a matter of time before Carlos finds husband rhythm and is delivering results comparable to his team mate.

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New 2026 cars “very complicated”

Having spent time in the simulator driving Williams projected virtual 2026 car, Carlos now offers a glimpse into how F1’s 2026 regulations revolution will play out, admitting that adapting to the new cars will be a serious mental challenge for drivers. Having already completed multiple simulator runs in Williams’ prototype for the next regulation cycle, the four-time Grand Prix winner said the switch to the new technology is “very complicated” and will demand an entirely new approach from behind the wheel.

Although ten rounds still remain in the 2025 season, every team is already heavily invested in preparing for the seismic regulation changes that will debut next year. The 2026 cars will feature all-new power units with a 50-50 split between combustion and electric energy, as well as active aerodynamics that represent a radical departure from the current generation.

Simulator sessions have been the first proving ground for these concepts, but early feedback has been mixed. Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, Alex Albon and Lance Stroll have all voiced doubts, warning that the new formula feels less like flat-out racing and more like a constant energy management exercise.

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Bigger change than 2014

Sainz, who joined Williams this year, admitted he initially struggled too. “Very complicated,” he  said when asked about his first impressions. “It occupies a lot of brain space while you’re driving. At the beginning you’re thinking, ‘what the hell is going on here?’ The car feels different every lap, there are so many things you need to manage.”

Carlos first raced in F1 in 2015, when the new hybrid era was fully underway. Yet he muses that Lewis Hamilton must have faced a similar challenge in 2014, when V8 engines gave way to the hybrid V6 era. “If you ask Lewis \[Hamilton], he’ll tell you—back then it was a shock. Suddenly you had to think about battery management and all these systems we’d never worried about before. But within a season, it became the new normal. That’s what I expect now. Right now it feels alien, but by mid-season next year, it will just be the way things are.”

When asked whether the new breed of F1 cars will deliver better racing, Sainz could not answer that particular enquiry. “The big question is whether that new normal is actually better than the old one,” he said. “That’s what everyone wants to know. But as drivers, we don’t get to choose—we just adapt. If we have to do six or seven switch changes every lap, we’ll do it. And eventually, we’ll become so used to it that it feels natural.”

Brembo Reveals Tiny Rear Brakes for F1’s 2026 Cars

 

 

 

FIA hoping for better F1 racing

While headlines focus on the new power units, the aerodynamic overhaul is just as dramatic. Active aerodynamics will make their debut, allowing front and rear wings to open for straight-line efficiency and close for maximum downforce in corners. Ground-effect tunnels—a defining feature of the 2022 regulations—will be scrapped to eliminate the violent “porpoising” phenomenon that plagued the early years of this ruleset. Cars will feature flat undersides with stepped diffusers to replace the lost downforce, bringing back a more conventional aero philosophy while still aiming to keep lap times in line with today.

With the current F1 formula often reduced to a processional affair on Sunday’s, the year of 2025 has become a massive qualifying effort. With positions hard to make up during the Grand Prix, Saturday has become the most important day of the F1 weekend. The new push to pash system – its exact operational functions are yet to be defined – will give the drivers a boost of energy wherever they wish – unlike DRS.

And with all the cars running slimmed out rear wings along the straights, the turbulent air which makes passing difficult will be significantly reduced. For now, Sainz believes the steep learning curve is unavoidable but insists history shows drivers will adapt.

“At the beginning, you fight it, you question it. But eventually it becomes automatic. That’s what will happen here,” he said. Whether the fans embrace the new spectacle is another matter. In 2026, Formula 1 won’t just be testing its cars—it may be testing the patience of its drivers, teams, and audience alike.

 

 

 

Ex-Ferrari driver claims title 14 years after F1 exit

Rubens Barrichello remains one of the most iconic names of modern Formula 1. As Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari teammate during the team’s dominant early 2000s era, the Brazilian twice finished runner-up in the drivers’ standings (2002 and 2004) and later partnered Jenson Button during Brawn GP’s fairytale title-winning year in 2009. That season also delivered his 11th and final grand prix victory, at Monza – Ferrari’s home race.

His F1 career ended in 2011 when Williams opted to replace him with Bruno Senna, nephew of the legendary Ayrton. At the time he was the longest serving Formula One driver with 322 starts to his name. Whilst Rubens drive for six F1 teams in his fifteen years in the sport he will be remembered most for his role as wingman to Michael Schumacher during their time together at Ferrari.

There was never any doubt that Michael Schumacher was Ferrari’s number one, but Rubens Barrichello still carved out opportunities to win – even if some were hand-me-downs once Schumacher had sealed the title early. His first Ferrari win in 2000 was pure inspiration mixed with fortune. Starting a miserable 18th at Hockenheim, Barrichello was thrown onto a bold two-stop strategy in the hope of slicing through the field…. READ MORE