Carlos Sainz claims that F1 title battle is already a two-horse race before the season even begins

Carlos Sainz has predicted who he thinks will win the 2026 World Championship but couldn’t separate two drivers at the top.

With a new regulation cycle in the sport, it’s hard to pick a potential championship winner after testing, however Mercedes and George Russell are the bookmakers’ favourites.

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Sainz, who now races for the historic F1 team Williams, will hope to be among the frontrunners with teammate Alex Albon.

And he sat down ahead of the 2026 season on Formula 1‘s official podcast ‘Beyond the Grid’.

Asked who he thinks will be champion at the end of the season in Abu Dhabi, he replied: “George Russell or Max Verstappen“.

Asked if he could have an explanation to his answer which the Spaniard light-heartedly responded with: “No, you cannot.

“Well it’s from what I’ve seen in Bahrain from testing…”

With the regulation change, the only people who really understand the difference in how the car now works, is the drivers themselves.

The ex-Ferrari driver clearly has a positive feeling about his two rivals from the Mercedes and Red Bull teams.

He was asked to extend his opinion on who he believes will excel this season and said: “The level in F1 now is so high.

“I think the 22 drivers are all talented so it’s hard for me to say that only a couple will adapt well.

“Last week, I saw journalists trying to analyse who will adapt the quickest to the new regulations.

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“They don’t even know what we were doing, what we are testing, calm down and let us test and then you will see.”

Lando Norris is the current title-holder and will be looking to defend it in style, despite the uncertainty caused by the regulation changes.

His path to glory at McLaren is one that Sainz himself could have taken.

The Spaniard moved to England to join the legendary team in 2019 and was the elder of the current world champion for two years.

He achieved two podiums in Brazil and Monza with the team from Woking before he departed for Ferrari.

Asked about Norris’ glorious win, he said: “Lando has always been quick since the day he became an F1 driver, we saw it in 2019/20 when I was his teammate.

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“He started to have more championship material and he confirmed it in 2025 with a very strong second part to the season.

“Fair play to him, he did it in his own way which is never the easy way, he likes to complicate things Lando but he managed to turn it around and won in Lando’s way.”

The Williams driver was then asked if he regretted making his move to Ferrari and wished he had stayed with the current Constructors’ champions.

He said: “No, and I’ll tell you why: because in 2021, Ferrari and I achieved 3 podiums in one season for the first time in my career; in 2022 I won my first race, and in 2023 I was doing the same while McLaren were dead last.

“If I didn’t move I wouldn’t have won races with Ferrari and I would have had to wait till 2024… my friend Lando won and that makes me happy, I don’t feel any regrets.

He added: “Williams is a life project; I say that because I’m 31 years old now, and I can enter the next few years of my career with a very clear target in mind, and that is to try and help this team [Williams] go back to the front of the field.

“If you are asking where I will be in two to three years time, I would like to say I will be fighting for championships with Williams.

“Being 31, there would be nothing that makes me happier than putting all my effort into bringing back one of the greatest F1 teams to the top, so I can look back and be very proud for sure.”