How Williams have already exceeded Carlos Sainz’s expectations

Williams have already left a positive impression on Carlos Sainz as he prepares for his debut F1 season with the team.

High-profile signing Sainz was the first Williams driver to get behind the wheel of the team’s brand new 2025 car following its launch at Silverstone on Friday.

The four-time grand prix winner has joined from Ferrari after losing his seat with the Scuderia to make way for the arrival of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.

While little can be gleaned from such shakedown outings given the F1 testing restrictions at play and unrepresentative track conditions, Sainz was immediately encouraged.

“Honestly positive,” Sainz told media including Crash.net when asked for his first impressions of the FW47 after driving it for the first time.

“I think most importantly this is a good show of Williams’ progress. To be bold enough to prepare a test where all our main partners are here and all the media are invited to see the first laps of the car, shows the trust Williams have in their new tools to produce a car that is going to be working well like it did today without any issues.

“It’s a good sign, a good showing to the outside work and I think shows the progress that Williams is intending to do. Proud of the first day.”

Sainz got to sample Williams’ 2024 challenger in the post-season Abu Dhabi test in December and admitted he was pleasantly surprised by how good the car was. 

“First impressions are very important because you only have once chance to make a first impression, and that was very positive,” he explained.

“In Abu Dhabi I found a car that was a bit better than I expected. Obviously with some deficiencies compared to the cars I have been driving, but not massively far off.

“You can tell the midfield has caught up a lot with the top teams. That’s why in Abu Dhabi Q1 we were all within half a second of each other. To feel that half a second over a full lap, you are talking about half a tenth per corner. You have to really good to feel it.

“I did feel some things for sure and I can just tell you that I found the team full of motivation, full of energy. Not easy after a triple header, Abu Dhabi test, I normally just see people wanting to go home.

“The energy that I saw that day, and the run plan that we managed to follow to perfection and execute that day, was important to me. It was a very important test that I think will help going into Bahrain.”

However, Sainz would not be drawn on his expectations for the upcoming campaign at this early stage.

“Give me at least Bahrain test to see,” he insisted. “In terms of results it’s going to be incredibly tight against the midfield. It doesn’t matter if you improve seven tenths if the others improve the same, you are still in the same place the grid.

“I need time. I need time to analyse where everyone is in Bahrain and then see what we can do in Australia. One thing that is important for me is to keep the momentum up, the positive trend and upward trajectory that Williams is on.

“We keep seeing progress in all areas and if we manage to keep that momentum and keep riding the wave, that for me is the most important because the big opportunity comes for Williams in ’26 more than ’25.”