CARLOS SAINZ remains convinced he can become Formula One world champion with Williams.

The Spaniard joined the British team ahead of this season after being unfortunate to lose his seat at Ferrari when the Scuderia opted to sign seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton.

His debut campaign with the Grove-based team has not gone as smoothly as Sainz would have liked, with a combination of inconsistency, misfortune and strategic errors meaning he only has 16 points from the first 15 races.

But the 31-year-old has seen enough to remain confident that he joined the right team.

Asked if he believes he can become champion with Williams, Sainz told the PA news agency ahead of last weekend’s race in Zandvoort: “Yes. If there’s one thing I’ve taken over from Ferrari and my other experiences, it is that I know that with the right people around me I can develop a competitive car and team.

“I get a lot of confidence from that, from knowing that I know how to guide a big organisation to go in the right direction, what the car needs to perform, what is the right structure for a team, and I’m keen to help Williams on that.

“I see everything back at base, back at the factory responding and everything is going the way I want it to go.

“It’s a matter of whether we can deliver it or not obviously but I feel like it’s still the right place for me for the future.”

The Dutch Grand Prix was typical of Sainz’s season. He qualified a solid ninth but a mid-race collision with Liam Lawson — for which the Spaniard was furious to receive a penalty — saw him finish 13th.

His team-mate Alex Albon finished an impressive fifth to take his season tally to 64 points.

“From my side, if I use Alex as a reference, I feel like speed has been there from the beginning,” Sainz added.

“We’ve been very closely matched in outright speed, which is normally the thing you struggle the most when changing teams. So I’m relatively happy and proud of that adaptation process.

“But unfortunately we didn’t manage to get points on the table, or as many points as we should have, for the speed that I have in the car.”

Williams team principal James Vowles has been clear that he is putting together a long-term project, focusing on the new regulations which begin next year but admitting it could take until 2028 for many elements to come to fruition.

That means Sainz’s debut season has largely been a learning year, with the four-time race winner not expected to be featuring on the podium.

Sainz admits he has had to change mindset, adding: “That’s the one thing I miss. The pressure and the excitement of going into a weekend knowing you’re fighting for a podium or a win.

“That’s the only thing really I miss from the past.

“That pressure, that adrenaline, that feeling you get in the body when you know you’re going into a weekend where you might have a chance to win or to step on the podium.

“But apart from that, honestly the competitive side of me goes into every weekend so fired up that it doesn’t need any other adjustments.

“I feel like the more we work this year and the better we work this year, the earlier that feeling of winning and some podiums will come back.”