Carlos Sainz believes Aston Martin is “in a different league” compared to Williams following the introduction of its recent upgrades.
Aston Martin endured a highly challenging start to the new campaign, entering the year with a package alongside Honda that was both slow and unreliable.
At the Hungarian Grand Prix last month, the Silverstone-based squad unveiled its first major upgrade of the year, which delivered several seconds of performance.
Last time out at Zandvoort, Honda unveiled an upgrade package of its own, offering the team a further step forward.
Williams struggled for form throughout the event, leaving Sainz to conclude that Aston Martin is now significantly faster than it.
“We are pretty much where we expected, which is towards the back,” Sainz told media including RacingNews365.
“We are only quicker than Cadillac at the moment. You saw the Astons in race pace - they are a different league right now.
“We couldn't fight them, we couldn't fight anyone, really.”
Williams' painful weekend took a turn for the worse towards the end of the grand prix on Sunday when Sainz battled team-mate Alex Albon for position.
Entering the first turn, Sainz locked up and collided with Albon, forcing the Thai driver to retire.
“At the end of the race, Alex and I, just having fun, and unfortunately I did this mistake where I was caught off guard with a front lock into Turn 1 with the bump,” Sainz said.
“But honestly, it's not like we were fighting for much.”
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