Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz will both be hoping to take a step forward next season as they look to join the fight near the front of the grid.
Sainz put together a strong finish to 2025, picking up two podiums for Williams and climbing into the top 10 in the drivers’ standings.
Early questions from Ted Kravitz faded away over the year, and his strong finish included staying just ahead of fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso by season’s end.
As Williams focused heavily on preparations for 2026, Aston Martin struggled to keep up with the pace throughout 2025.
Despite Adrian Newey’s arrival at Aston Martin as technical chief and team principal, even his experience doesn’t guarantee immediate results.
Gary Anderson has pointed out that an often-overlooked factor could prevent both Sainz and Alonso from competing for wins next year, regardless of how well they drive individually.
Gary Anderson warns budget cap could hold back Sainz and Alonso in 2026
Speaking on The Race F1 Tech Show, Anderson said: “I think it’s gone overboard, really. I think it will take us a few years to get back to the competitive level we had in 2025, with all the teams closing in on each other.
“And at some races, the oddball result appeared, which is what we wanted. We want everybody to have a chance.
“But it won’t happen that the teams at the back will overcome the teams at the front, because just the manpower, money, budget, spend, knowledge, etc.
He added: “For the teams at the front [in 2025], it’s much too much. I hope we get a team getting into that top floor because it’d be great to see Aston Martin. They have spent a huge amount of money on it.
“And probably for Alonso’s last year, it’d be great to see Williams – again – Carlos Sainz. I think he deserves that shot of winning a race here and there.”
The former McLaren technical director went on to say: “And there are others as well but at the end of day I don’t think it’ll happen regularly because [the big teams] just have got more money and more manpower to cope with a new set of regulations better than those old teams had.{{{PLACEHOLDER_0}}}
It’s clear that even with budget caps in place and new rules meant to balance things out between F1 teams over time, those with deeper pockets may still find ways to stay ahead.
Gary Anderson’s warning about Williams is already being proven by the team’s 2026 sacrifice
Anderson’s warning to teams in the middle of the F1 pack might already be showing signs at Williams.
The team was notably late to pre-season testing back in 2019 before James Vowles took over, and he has been clear that avoiding a repeat of that situation has been a major focus heading into the next era of Formula 1.
Vowles has stated that Williams will accept some performance compromises with their 2026 car to make sure they are fully prepared for the private test in Barcelona at the end of January.
Meanwhile, teams with greater resources won’t need to make those kinds of trade-offs. They have enough staff to keep pushing development on all fronts without having to scale anything back.
Aston Martin have top-of-the-line facilities after recent upgrades, but it remains unclear if they can make full use of them due to their current staffing levels.
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