Ferrari has continued to maintain an evasive stance when it comes to discussing the car problems that hampered both drivers during Formula 1‘s Spanish Grand Prix.

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were made to stutter over the line at the previous race in Barcelona as independent issues on their SF-25s limited the pair’s pace.

But while Leclerc managed to nurse his car home to third place, Hamilton lost out to Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg during a late restart and lagged home in sixth position.

Hamilton, who has struggled to match new team-mate Leclerc since his move to Ferrari, was despondent as he labelled it among the worst races he has experienced.

But despite being told not to expand on the details, the Briton admitted he was relieved to learn that there had been an external aspect that had hindered his progress.

Asked how much the issue had impacted him, Hamilton told media including Motorsport Week: “Massively.

“Unfortunately, the team yesterday said they didn’t really want us to talk too much about it, but we both had issues that were hindering us massively from halfway through the race already.

“I didn’t know whether or not we had that problem, but I said on the radio that it was the worst-feeling car I’d ever had – and it truly was with that issue.

“At the end of the race, I was like, ‘jeez, I’ve never experienced something this bad for such a prolonged time through a race’.

“It wasn’t until after the TV interviews I got back to the engineers and we found out there was an issue. It was a bit of a relief to hear that because I didn’t feel so terrible afterwards.”

Ferrari issues derailed initial promise

Likewise, Leclerc admitted he had been instructed to remain ambiguous regarding the complication that began to develop on his SF-25 during the race’s second stint.

“No, I cannot elaborate on those,” he said. “But yeah, it already started on my second stint a little bit. And then on the last stint, we had to manage quite a few of them. 

“So it was a tricky race. But I think the positive was that the first stint was very positive in terms of pace. 

“The second one wasn’t too bad, even with the first issues that we’ve encountered. The last one, we know why it was both.”

Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur, who issued an explosive response to the growing rumours about his position, was agitated when pressed to provide more disclosure.

“When I’m telling you in the press conference that I won’t disclose, don’t come back 10 minutes later to try to understand,” he expressed.

“And the Friday after to try to understand – I won’t disclose what’s happened. It is like it is. Full stop.”

READ MORE – Fred Vasseur hints Italian media scrutiny contributing to Ferrari F1 title drought

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George Russell has clarified the remarks he made about Formula E driver Dan Ticktum after his controversial clash with Max Verstappen after the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver made the comments to the media, including Motorsport Week, immediately after the race two weeks ago, in which he was hit by the Red Bull with just two laps to go.

An irked Russell was asked if there was any other driver that would make a similar manoeuvre to Verstappen’s, to which the Briton replied: “Not in Formula 1, maybe in Formula E. Maybe one British driver in Formula E.”

Ticktum took to his Instagram account a few hours later, saying in a humourous video: “Number one, thank you for the free publicity. We’ll take that any day of the week. And two, while what Max did today was a little bit sceptical, to be a likened to him at any point in my career is positive if you ask me.”

Ahead of this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, Russell was asked by Motorsport Week if he had seen Ticktum’s riposte, to which he shrugged the testy back-and-forth off, saying: “I was told about that this morning,” he said.

“Yeah, I didn’t really have much to say. I’ve known Ticktum for a while. Obviously a talented driver. I didn’t mean any offence with my comment. I was just using that as an example.

“So, yeah, I heard he saw the funny side of it.”

When asked if there were any lingering problems between the two drivers, Russell denied that was the case.

“No, I’ve not actually seen him for a long time, so I know he’s racing in Formula E,” he said. “I keep half an eye on that when I can, so I know he’s done a pretty decent job.”

Ticktum is enjoying his best-ever season in FE to date, with his first-ever podium in the all-electric championship coming last month in Tokyo.

The Cupra Kiro man is 10th in the Drivers’ standings with 55 points, 27 more already than his previous overall season best.

READ MORE – Dan Ticktum coups $100,000 for charity in Mr Beast YouTube challenge

The post ‘He’s obviously talented’: George Russell clarifies Dan Ticktum remarks after F1 Spanish GP appeared first on Motorsport Week.

The Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship sees the McLaren pair separated by 10 points, but was Oscar Piastri’s win at the Spanish Grand Prix the biggest blow yet for Lando Norris?

Despite staying in touch with Piastri, 2025 has so far been a season of struggles for Norris, in which a number of moments of untidiness have seen him drop crucial points.

The Briton has been pretty frank about this, too, talking candidly on numerous occasions about his psychological difficulties, as well as the ones he has had with the MCL39, a car that, despite its significant performance advantages over its rivals’ machines, he has personally toiled with over a single lap compared to his team-mate.

A comeback victory in Monaco saw him narrow the gap to three points, and although he appeared positive and content in defeat to the “better guy” in Piastri in Barcelona, the victory might transpire to be the most significant tipping point away from Norris of all.

Monaco appeared to be a really important step forward for Norris, completing an epic lap in qualifying to take the coveted pole position, and his calm and measured drive on Sunday – at a circuit which requires surgeon-like precision and concentration – was one that must surely rank as one of his best.

Fast forward one week, and F1 returned to a circuit with more opportunity for competition, and with the added intrigue of the FIA’s flexi-wing technical directive coming into play. McLaren had previously utilised flexi-wings to its advantage, and for its competitors, it was a potential moment to catch up and spice up the year.

For the likes of Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari, the herring was as red as Scuderia’s cars, as Piastri and Norris combined to give McLaren a third 1-2 this season. But for Norris, seeds of warning must have surely be sown into his mind by another loss.

Qualifying was the first big moment, Piastri taking pole by two tenths, the biggest margin for first place of the year. The race result and classification, at first glance, would suggest closeness, but in reality, the late Safety Car tightened the field up, and Piastri was the clear and deserved victor.

For Norris, Barcelona may have also seemed like a track for him to extend his newfound reinvigoration, given that last year, he had been, by a country mile, the strongest of the McLarens.

Piastri managed to set just one lap in Q3, a modest one at that, and was deleted for track limits. It condemned him to starting 10th, whereas Norris streaked to pole.

The race showed the same level of authority. Whilst losing out to Max Verstappen in the end, Norris did finish second, and just by two seconds from the Dutchman at the flag. Piastri, on the other hand, made up just three places, finishing seventh, and a whole half-minute down on Norris at the finish. Perhaps this is the biggest example of how Piastri has smoothened his rough edges with experience to exert a form of supremacy.

It also shows that Piastri is now, at the very least, at the same level as Norris, and has reached that high bar in what is his third season of F1, a bar that Norris has set in what is his seventh.

In a month, F1 arrives at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix, a race in which Norris, as the leading British driver, will be enraptured by a wave of partisan support, exacerbated by his own dedicated grandstand – the Landostand – at Stowe Corner.

He’ll be hopeful of utilising the “people power” that Nigel Mansell always said gave you extra speed, especially as Norris, like Mansell, often had at the time of Silverstone, a championship battle on his hands.

However, he has two big challenges to contend with first – the Canadian and Austrian Grands Prix. The former is another driver test and traditionally a race of attrition, in which qualifying will be all-important. Norris finished second last year, with Piastri fifth.

Austria’s speed and opportunities for overtaking are something Norris will need to remind himself of, as his contact with Max Verstappen late in the race saw him retire and lose important points in the championship.

If these circuits can be mastered by Norris, his desired first title is firmly back into the realms of reality, and will, just as importantly, remind the team that has carried him throughout his career is he is still worthy of its attention.

READ MORE – How Spain marked the culmination of McLaren’s F1 dominance

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Lewis Hamilton is pessimistic about Madrid’s impending debut on the 2026 Formula 1 calendar as he criticised the sport’s recent failures to build “good circuits”.

The ‘Madring Circuit’ will join the calendar from next season onwards as the host of the Spanish Grand Prix.

This means that the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, which has had a firm spot on the calendar since 1991, might not have a spot beyond the venue’s current deal for 2026.

With F1 revealing the layout for the brand new, 22-corner-long street circuit in the heart of the Spanish capital of Madrid, anticipation has started to build amongst fans for the latest addition to the staple of tracks on the calendar. That said, Hamilton doesn’t seem to echo the same sentiments.

“As long as they build a good circuit, which I’m less hopeful for – building new circuits is very, very hit and miss. 90 plus per cent of the time it’s worse,” Hamilton told Motorsport Week.

As long as it’s a better circuit, or as good a circuit, I’m not bothered either way.”

The last five years have seen circuits like Jeddah, Miami and Las Vegas be built from scratch to accommodate Grand Prix racing.

But the current generation of F1 cars and the narrow profile of these tracks haven’t promoted wheel-to-wheel action as often as the fans or drivers would have liked.

The seven-time F1 champion’s critical stance on Barcelona’s potential exclusion also stems from his belief in protecting the sport’s heritage.

Legacy circuits like Spa-Francorchamps have already been relegated to a rotational spot on the calendar, while Zandvoort will also soon depart the schedule altogether.

With Barcelona heading towards a similar fate despite Fernando Alonso’s insistence it will remain, Hamilton isn’t too pleased about the direction that F1 is taking.

“I think ultimately losing any of the classics, and this is one of the classics, I think would be a shame, because as I said, it’s a great city, there’s a great following here in Spain, particularly since Fernando was here,” he explained.

“This feels like a home of Formula 1 in Spain, but it’s okay to progress as a sport, and I know Madrid, as I said, is a great location.”

Verstappen backs Hamilton over potential calendar loss

Max Verstappen has been one of the most vocal supporters of keeping F1’s fabric intact.

Las Vegas’ inclusion on the calendar was met with staunch criticism from the Dutchman, who believed the sport was trying to focus more on the show and less on the racing.

Naturally, regarding Barcelona’s potential axing, the 27-year-old concurs with Hamilton.

“I enjoy driving here, it’s a very good track, very enjoyable,” the Dutchman expressed.

“Of course the racing sometimes is a bit more difficult. I think for F1 in general it would be a bit of a loss of course if this track goes.

“Especially I think for the drivers, but I think even the fan experience is nice, coming here close to Barcelona.”

The new street circuit, built around the IFEMA Madrid exhibition centre, will reportedly cost almost $100 million to erect. The decision to go ahead with the project despite a track like Circuito del Jarama being in close proximity to Madrid means that F1 has seen vast commercial potential in building a circuit within the capital city – a fact that isn’t lost on Verstappen either.

“I get of course also that maybe they want to build something in Madrid and create a bit of a hype there. It’s not up to me anyway,” he concluded.

READ MORE — How Max Verstappen threat could push McLaren to enforce F1 team orders

The post Lewis Hamilton: F1’s newer circuits ‘90 per cent worse’ amid impending Madrid debut appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Nico Rosberg admits Lewis Hamilton’s difficult start to life at Ferrari has been “hard to watch”, as the seven-time Formula 1 Champion continues to struggle for answers.

The British driver finished sixth in Barcelona, having started fifth after gaining a place from Max Verstappen’s grid penalty.

He made a strong getaway to get ahead of George Russell, but was made to let team-mate Charles Leclerc through and lost position to Russell through the pitstops.

Most of the front-runners switched to Soft tyres following a late Safety Car, but rather than gaining ground, he came under pressure and was passed by Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber.

A Sprint race victory in China has been the slight glimmer of hope in what is turning out to be a difficult debut campaign with the Scuderia.

A dejected Hamilton admitted after the Spanish Grand Prix that it was his worst race with Ferrari so far – a striking claim given the team radio fiasco in Miami and a disappointing 10th-place finish on his debut for the Prancing Horse, to name just a few.

The 2016 World Champion, who was on Sky F1 pundit duties last weekend, seemed genuinely pained watching Hamilton’s struggles at Ferrari.

He said: “It’s hard to watch. Sunday was a horrible day for him because he was just slow out there, which is very unusual.

“Yes, sometimes he’s off in qualifying, but in races he’s usually really awesome and the race was shockingly bad. He doesn’t have answers either.

“Was there damage on the floor? These floors are so sensitive and there can always be a bit there and you lose a lot of time.

“When you don’t have any answers, it’s really tough as a driver. Then you see your team-mate race their way to third place on the podium.

“In light of the whole season he’s had so far, it’s a very dark situation.”

READ MORE – Lewis Hamilton will soon urge Ferrari to abandon SF-25 to focus on 2026 F1 rules

The post Nico Rosberg: Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari F1 woes ‘hard to watch’ appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Fernando Alonso’s points finish in the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix offered a timely boost, but also masked the performance limitations that continue to hinder Aston Martin’s 2025 campaign.

The Spaniard secured his first points-scoring result of the campaign in Barcelona, promoted to ninth after Max Verstappen’s time penalty.

After qualifying 10th, Alonso dropped a spot to Nico Hulkenberg at the start but clawed back positions with bold moves in unconventional overtaking zones to secure a top-10 finish.

An uncharacteristic off at Turn 5 on Lap 14 saw the two-time World Champion run through the gravel and lose ground before pitting for a set of Mediums.

But a series of daring moves – including sweeping passes around the outside of Franco Colapinto and Oliver Bearman at Turn 3 – fuelled a spirited recovery, with Alonso ultimately clinching 10th after a late Safety Car set up a seven-lap sprint to the flag.

However, the 43-year-old did not have to time to reflect on his moves when looking back on the race, instead he pointed out the glaring issue his overtakes showed with the AMR25.

“We had a lot of front tyre degradation, so the front left was done by seven laps into the stint,” he told media including Motorsport Week.

“And then we lacked top speed, so on the straights we were losing a lot. I didn’t make [a] single overtake on the DRS.

“They were all made in Turn 3 on the outside, which is not a normal place to overtake. But we have to invent these kinds of moves.

“Also, in Imola, it was out of Turn 7 where I made like three overtakes in the last few laps.

“We need to solve this situation and start overtaking on the straight, with the DRS, like everyone does.”

Alonso flags straight-sine speed and tyre wear problems

His concerns over the straight speed of the Aston Martin were reflected in the speed traps at Barcelona.

While Verstappen and Oscar Piastri topped the speed charts at 297.5km/h on the main straight, Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso languished near the bottom in 17th and 18th, respectively.

Another key issue Alonso pointed to was the impact on tyre degradation.

Aston Martin’s lack of straight-line speed forces him to push harder through the corners and puts extra stress on the tyres.

It has also compromised his qualifying performances in 2025, with Alonso believing the car now needs to be prioritised more for race pace over one-lap speed.

“We need to improve, a little bit, our straightline speed and also the [tyre] degradation,” he explained.

“Saturdays are quite competitive and Sundays we seem to take a step back.

I’m happy with the first points, and it was good timing with the safety car in the end.

“But if we go back to Thursday and we redo the weekend, we need to change something on the car to be a little bit more Sunday-biased than Saturday.”

Krack admits downforce choice making life “very difficult” for Aston Martin drivers

Aston Martin’s Chief Trackside Officer Mike Krack echoed his driver’s concerns.

“We need to improve,” he told media including Motorsport Week.

“As you have seen, we had to put quite a lot of manoeuvres, and not on the straights or out of corners.

“By doing that, you use a lot of tyres by trying to pass like this, like around the outside of Turn 3.

“So it’s something that we need to fix.

“We need to review how we came to this [downforce] level here, because we need to review how we decided to select this wing.

“We discussed it just now in the debrief, and we have discussed it already before. It’s something really to look at.

“We are making the life of the drivers very difficult, because you are looking more in the mirror than anything.”

READ MORE – Fernando Alonso expects Barcelona to stay in F1 despite Madrid arrival in 2026

The post Why Fernando Alonso is having to get ‘inventive’ to mask Aston Martin F1 weakness appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Mercedes is looking into the engine failure that ended Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix – a setback that could impact the rest of his season.

The Italian rookie was on track for a seventh-place finish at Barcelona, set to secure valuable points for the German marque.

But a power unit failure heading into Turn 10 on Lap 55 forced him into the gravel trap, bringing his W16 to a halt with smoke billowing from the car.

After the race, Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff addressed the suspected cause of Antonelli’s retirement.

“We have to look at whether that was an engine failure today, it clearly looks like that at first sight,” he told media including Motorsport Week.

“That is our strength, so we need to see where that comes from.”

A second DNF in just three Grands Prix rounded off a tough start to the European leg of the season for the 18-year-old.

Antonelli suffered a mechanical issue at Imola, his home Grand Prix, a throttle issue curtailing his race after recovering from a poor qualifying.

Another tough Saturday set the tone for a tedious Monaco race, where he lingered behind the Williams road block and ultimately finished 18th.

Mercedes Technical Director James Allison provided an update on the team’s ongoing investigation into the latest fault during the post-race debrief.

“We don’t know what let go in the PU yet,” he said on the team’s post-race debrief. “It’s made its way back to Brixworth, they’ll dismantle it, figure out what’s let go, work out what they need to do as recommendations for the whole pool of race engines, not just in our team, but also in the customer teams as well.

“Hopefully, we won’t see any repeat of it in the remainder of the season. I’m sure there’s numerous tests we can now do to look at that reliability in the pool.”

Allison on managing Mercedes’ power unit challenges

F1 teams have a limited allocation of power unit components that they can use throughout the season.

If a team exceeds this allowance due to component failures, it can lead to grid penalties.

Asked how the allocation looks for Antonelli for the rest of the 2025 campaign, Allison explained the challenges that lie ahead.

“Well, it puts some pressure on the pool, so we could put in a new power unit next race weekend, suffer no penalties because we’re still below the maximum number you’re allowed to use in a year without penalty,” he added.

“But of course, we’re only a third of the way through the year.

“So that’s going to put quite a strain on the remainder of the pool if we have to eke it out till the end of the year.

“We’ll be just eyeballing up how to marshal those remaining resources in a good way.

“But yes, it’s obviously no fun when a power unit comes out of the pool before delivering its full life.”

READ MORE – How ‘compromised’ Imola weekend will be a ‘good lesson’ for Kimi Antonelli

The post Mercedes investigating F1 Spanish GP engine failure that’s left ‘quite a strain’ appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has acknowledged that the team’s continuous struggle in hotter conditions is related to “something intrinsic” within its 2025 Formula 1 car.

The German marque’s overriding target with the W16 was to ensure the team’s competitiveness wasn’t dependent on the temperature like its recalcitrant predecessor.

Mercedes harboured hope that it made a breakthrough when George Russell earned third in Bahrain, but that optimism has subsided amid a challenging triple-header.

Russell was unable to capitalise on starting positions inside the top five at Imola and in Spain as extreme tyre overheating resigned him to dropping back in the races.

Mercedes decided to shelve the updated rear suspension that it introduced at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix amid concern that it had exacerbated the core problem.

But with the issue still prevalent – albeit to a lesser extent – in Barcelona last weekend, Wolff has conceded the abiding limitation blighting Mercedes has deeper roots.

“I think every car has an intrinsic DNA and that’s dialled into the design,” Wolff explained to media including Motorsport Week.

“I think that even though we’re large organisations with many scientists and engineers, sometimes you don’t know why a car is doing something.

“I’m not sure McLaren knows exactly why they are so fast, because it comes down to just the marginal gains and the detail and just good engineering.

“I think that our car, generally over the years, was struggling more with the rear tyre overheating than others.

“We were always very strong when it was cold, when that wasn’t an issue.

“And if you look back at Las Vegas last year, we went out from the first flag land onwards, the drivers said that car is awesome, we have so much grip, like never before.

“All of the other drivers were saying there’s literally no grip, they’re sliding around.

“So you kind of see where that is certainly something which is intrinsic in the car and we can mask or make worse with set-up directions, but it’s something that’s in the car.”

Mercedes made minor progress in Spain

Wolff reckons Mercedes made a small step in the right direction in Spain with how it nurses the rubber over a race distance, despite his discontent at the team’s pace.

“We started to hit the bump when it got hotter,” he acknowledged. “I think that the result is certainly not satisfactory today.

“In my opinion, we just need to get on top of it. It’s still the same pattern of overheating tyres, whether it’s front or rears.

“But I kind of have the feeling, leaving from here, that it was better.

“It’s not suddenly that we were really in McLaren, but it was better. Also against the Ferraris, we didn’t look too bad. That was different a week ago and different two weeks ago.

“Overall, we need to now analyse the data and see whether we’ve unlocked a little bit of the potential or solved a little bit of the problems.”

Why Mercedes addressing a core weakness is essential

The Austrian has explained how addressing the weakness that has remained embedded in the W15 will remain essential even with an impending rule change in 2026.

“Yeah, it’s difficult to see lots of positives apart from the trajectory that seemed to be a little bit better in tyre management,” the Austrian reviewed.

“It’s important to understand our tyres, because that is going to be a factor next year, an important factor next year beyond all the sporting and technical regulations.”

READ MORE – Toto Wolff brands Max Verstappen F1 Spanish GP incident ‘incomprehensible’

The post The ‘intrinsic’ F1 limitation that Mercedes is struggling to resolve appeared first on Motorsport Week.

McLaren boss Andrea Stella has explained how the team has managed to build upon its 2024 strengths amid its current dominance of this year’s Formula 1 championship.

The Woking-based squad stormed to another victory in Spain via Oscar Piastri, and with Lando Norris coming home in second, secured its third 1-2 of the year.

Its MCL39 has been the class of the field so far, and the team has been able to take a further step forward from the MCL38, which improved across 2024 to take the Constructors’ title.

After qualifying, in which Piastri and Norris were around three tenths faster than Max Verstappen and George Russell’s third and fourth-place times, something which surprised Stella.

“In a way, I’m a little surprised that we had such a clear advantage,” he told media including Motorsport Week.

“Especially, I would have expected Red Bull to be a little closer based on some of the similar circuit characteristics that we found in Suzuka or in Imola.

“I think in hindsight, looking at the temperatures, which were very high, the kind of limitations, which, at least for us, were mainly associated with the rear axle.

“If that’s the same for everyone, I think it’s where our car performs very well. If we want to be slightly more technical, one characteristic of Spain is that the corners are very long. Unlike Imola, where the corners are relatively shorter.”

Stella went on to explain that one of last year’s cars’ biggest strengths was its ability to perform well on tracks with corners of a greater length, something it has managed to retain despite putting focus on other areas of the car.

“I think in these long corners, the MCL39 seemed to be able to carry over some of the qualities of the predecessor, whereby last year, for instance, in Zandvoort, another track with long corners, Lando dominated the weekend,” he said.

“I think we retained some of the strengths from an aerodynamic point of view, despite having improved the car. And I think overall, they were rewarding in this kind of track, that even if the speed range is similar to some others, the length of the corner, I think, helped us today.”

Will the MCL39 continue its dominant streak?

The next race at Montreal is a stern test of car and driver, with its corners a healthy mix of low-gear corners – such as Turns 2 and 10 – with chicanes in both the middle and final sectors.

After Canada, it is Austria, which sees longer, sweeping corners in the middle sector, and with high-speed right-handers at the end of the lap, Red Bull’s RB21 may be able to extract better performance on it.

But with McLaren now having surprised Stella in Spain, and with the technical directive on front flexi-wings having appeared to have made little or no difference to the field’s competitiveness, the team could surely be confident of extending its leads in both championships.

READ MORE – How flexi-wing clampdown proved there’s no ‘magic bullet’ in F1

The post How Spain marked the culmination of McLaren’s F1 dominance appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Williams left Barcelona with more questions than answers, as familiar struggles resurfaced at a track that continues to highlight a key limitation the team must overcome ahead of Formula 1’s 2026 rules reset.

Both drivers were in the wars, with Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon each suffering front wing damage – Albon twice during the Spanish Grand Prix.

First, his front-end plate was damaged when Liam Lawson, unable to avoid Fernando Alonso at Turn 1, triggered a chain reaction that saw Nico Hulkenberg collide with his FW47.

Sainz also picked up damage in the chaos, forcing both Williams drivers to pit early and rejoin the race at the back of the grid.

Then, on Lap 26, the Anglo-Thai racing driver came together with Lawson again, breaking his front wing for a second time, sending him into a premature retirement.

After serving a penalty for the collision, he retired to save the car and limit further damage.

Despite the on-track clashes, Albon’s main concern after the race was the pace of the car and how Barcelona once again exposed Williams’ persistent weaknesses.

“We’re not this ultra-midfield car that’s quick everywhere, we still have our flaws and our weaknesses,” he told media including Motorsport Week.

“It’s a clear trend now that pretty much everyone around us has already upgraded, so we will inevitably pull down the pecking order eventually.

“We need to look at this track and understand why it is always the circuit that hurts us. We know it’s long corners, but we need to understand why the long corners.”

Albon sees value in struggles as Williams targets long-term solutions

Albon acknowledged the relief of moving past the difficult Spanish GP weekend, but he emphasised the value of racing on tracks that exposed Williams limitations.

“It might sound weird, but I enjoy coming to these tracks,” he added.

“I want us to be a top team, and I know that these are the tracks that we need to be better at, if we are going to be one.

“It’s good to take our medicine and to understand it, and to really put the car to the test.

“Look at it, see it visually, we’ve got a lot to do here, let’s really get on top of it.

“We’ve improved the car everywhere, and we’ve definitely improved the car in long corners, but it’s still a step behind some of the others.”

Regarding whether the 2026 regulation changes might resolve Williams’ struggles at circuits like Barcelona, Albon remained cautious.

“Maybe, but cars carry DNA, and we know that if we don’t fix it, if we don’t understand it this year, we won’t understand it next year,” he explained. “So we do need to be good at that.”

However, looking ahead to the next race in Canada, the 29-year-old was more optimistic, noting that the characteristics of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve better suit Williams.

“We’re good on ride, we’re good on low downforce, so that works well for us,” Albon stated. “We’re generally quite good in low-speed corners.”

FW47’s track sensitivity laid bare as Sainz calls for consistency gains

Ahead of the Spanish GP, Sainz was clear about the FW47’s limitations, saying that if he had to design a track the car would excel at, Barcelona wouldn’t be it.

The Spaniard pointed to the car’s struggle with “medium-speed, long-duration corners” as a key weakness, with Williams having not reached Q3 in Barcelona since 2017.

When asked if, given Williams’ lack of speed, he felt the weekend was a write-off, Sainz largely agreed – though with the added disappointment of it being his home race.

“It’s my home Grand Prix, so for everything to go wrong on your home Grand Prix is disappointing, and shows that as a team we have still a lot to learn in tracks like Barcelona, to know where to set up the car, how to make it work in a track like this,” he told media including Motorsport Week.

“So, yeah, plenty to focus on, plenty to work around.

“Now we will go back and do our due diligence to see what we could have done better this weekend.”

Looking ahead, Sainz expressed hope for better results at upcoming races but acknowledged there are still several circuits where Williams will likely struggle, given the car’s current performance.

“Yeah, I think we have better weekends coming our way, for sure,” he said.

“I think our next tough ones will probably be Zandvoort and Qatar.

“Those will be for sure tough for our car, but at the same time, I feel like we as a team need to make sure we understand why our car is weak in these sort of tracks, and make sure that next year the car has less performance deviation between our good tracks and our bad tracks.

“In the end, you see McLaren is strong in Barcelona, but it’s not like they’re weak in other tracks, or vice versa, no, they just have an old rounder, and this is what we need to look forward to.”

READ MORE – Why Carlos Sainz is ‘not caring so much’ about points picture in F1 2025

The post How Spain exposed Williams weakness that needs fixing despite 2026 F1 rules reset appeared first on Motorsport Week.