Williams branded 'overpromisers' as Sainz's snub of Audi factory seat looks costly in 2026

Williams have been publicly accused of “overpromising and underdelivering” in 2026 by Formula 1 broadcaster Will Buxton, who also questioned why Carlos Sainz turned down a factory Audi seat to join the Grove outfit. After 12 rounds of the season, Williams sit ninth in the constructors’ championship with just 11 points, with Sainz and Alexander Albon placed 16th and 17th in the drivers’ standings on six and five points respectively.

The team arrived at pre-season testing in Bahrain already on the back foot, having missed private running in Barcelona, and have since been hampered by a persistently overweight car. Their difficulties were compounded at the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort, where the two Williams drivers collided — forcing Albon to retire and earning Sainz a 10-second penalty.

Speaking on the Up To Speed podcast, Buxton drew a sharp contrast between Williams and Audi, who entered F1 in 2026 as a works team following their takeover of Sauber. Sainz had been in discussions with Audi after losing his Ferrari seat to Lewis Hamilton, before ultimately committing to Williams ahead of the 2025 season.

“There’s an interesting difference in mindset and philosophy between Williams and Audi,” Buxton said. “When you look at the two places that Carlos could have ended up, you might have expected Audi to turn up with great fanfare, and yet I feel that they’ve been quite understated and have kind of underpromised and overdelivered.”

“Whereas Williams keep making the big statements of, ‘We’re going to take these steps up; we want to be fighting for X, Y and Z, and this is going to be a great year for us,’ and then it disappoints. So they overpromise and underdeliver.”

Buxton also reflected on the logic behind Sainz’s original choice. “I did find it interesting back when Carlos signed for Williams, and he had that option of going to Audi. I found it really interesting that you would turn down a factory seat over the dream that is Williams, and obviously James Vowles sold him a brilliant dream.”

The criticism lands at a difficult moment for a team that generated genuine optimism during the 2024 season, when Albon delivered several strong points-scoring results. The gap between those performances and Williams’s current standing in 2026 has sharpened scrutiny on both the team’s technical direction and the promises made to attract Sainz in the first place.