Adjusting to new surroundings isn't easy.
It's not a new story: proven driver goes somewhere new and just can't find the form we expect from them.
Daniel Ricciardo at McLaren, Ayrton Senna at Williams ... and now Carlos Sainz at Williams.
Of course, this is a small sample size and a bit of an overreaction, but the Spanish star has not lived up to the lofty expectations of this experienced Williams lineup that was expected to overdeliver.
Alex albon, the more experienced Williams driver, has had an incredible start to 2025: points and top 10 starts in all three grand prix, meaning 18 points for 2025 so far. One more point and Albon will have equaled the entire Williams team in 2024.
Of course, Albon has had three full seasons to work with the once-prestigious team, and has been a part in lifting them up from the depths of the sport to being a semi-consistent points competitor.
Sainz's ability can't be doubted. He tallied four wins in his time with Ferrari, and while he tended to be outshined by Charles Leclerc over the course of a season, he was not some distant second driver.
But 2025 has not been kind to him so far. In Australia he crashed out of the treacherous, rain-soaked race while under safety car conditions. To be fair to him again, racing on the painted streets of Melbourne was a monumental task -- but DNFing when you're driving at way under racing speeds isn't a great look.
China was nothing notable and certainly not worth points. He finished 13th on the road, but three disqualifications ahead of him from Pierre Gasly, Lewis Hamilton and Leclerc meant he got 10th, giving him his lone point of 2025.
And then, Sainz wasn't able to get to Q3 again in Japan, and then dropped three spots for an impeding penalty. Sainz could only manage P15 after finishing the race on soft tires. In a race where overtaking was barely existent, a start that far back was basically a sentence to finishing poorly.
Oh, and he picked up a fine for needing to use the bathroom. When it rains, it pours.
Sainz is hopeful that the team will begin figuring things out, saying that pace was there at Suzuka and he's trying to put himself in position to have the car figured out by May.
Sainz's good résumé over his time in F1 will allot him more patience to figure things out that the likes of Liam Lawson weren't given or Jack Doohan likely won't have. But his struggles have fallen a bit under the radar so far. But a few more weeks of being thoroughly behind your teammate will build a narrative quite easily.
Or the Smooth Operator can turn in a point or more in Bahrain and erase everything in the blink of an eye. He's certainly capable: his Bahrain results are all in the top four over the previous three seasons.