Carlos Sainz’s will feel vindicated in his Williams move after the team’s strong start to 2025. The FW47 is a competitive machine in both low and high-fuel, with enough pace to score points and even occasionally annoy the front-runners.
Given that the team’s focus has been the 2026 regulations for some time, their performance this year is even more impressive.
With that said, Sainz is currently a few steps behind teammate Alex Albon, who has enjoyed a notable edge so far.
Ahead of round three in Suzuka, the four-time winner admits that adapting to the FW47 will require dropping some old tendencies.
Sainz learning to drive new type of car
During his five-year stint in Maranello, Sainz proved himself against the extremely fast Charles Leclerc.
Even if Leclerc enjoyed slightly better results, the Spaniard was consistently within touching distance during their time as teammates.
Arguably the only exception to this is 2022, when Sainz initially struggled to perform with Ferrari’s first attempt at new ground-effect cars.
15.03.2025. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 1, Australian Grand Prix, Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia, Qualifying Day.
Before this year began, he acknowledged that it would take at least a handful of races to acclimatise at Williams.
This pre-season prediction seems accurate, with the 30-year-old outlining the challenges of performing at a new team:
“I was used to a certain type of car in Ferrari,” Sainz told the media.
“Which made me end up driving, especially since 2022, in a very specific way – to extract everything about that car.
“And you fall into, let’s say, habits about your driving – that you then apply to your next car.
“It might work in some corners, but in others it makes you very weak. And that’s probably a bit of it.
“Then there’s also a side of set-up that can help me drive in the way I like to drive a car – we’re also working on that.
“So it’s probably just uniting both.”
15.03.2025. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 1, Australian Grand Prix, Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia, Qualifying Day.
Williams unconcerned about Sainz’s adjustment
Inevitably, there are high expectations about what Sainz can contribute to Williams.
These have only elevated in the early weeks of 2025, considering that the FW47 is competitive enough to produce noteworthy results in qualifying and – crucially – on race day.
Still, team principal James Vowles is not oblivious to the adaptation period his latest signing must undergo.
If anything, Sainz’s slow start has given the British team principal a perfect opportunity to highlight Alex Albon’s calibre.
The Thai driver has done the heavy-lifting at Williams for over a decade – until now in far less competitive cars.
Vowles has been adamant since arriving to the factory in Grove that Albon is a World Class talent, and seeing his efforts relative to Sainz will almost certainly validate this assessment.
Meanwhile, the next few months will be a transitional period for the former Ferrari driver.
Considering that Williams have their sights set on a significant step forward in 2026, Sainz’s arrival is perfectly timed to give him some breathing space at a new environment.
This bodes well for a Williams team whose recent success only augments the excitement about their long-term prospects.
The Japanese GP will be another chance for Sainz to get closer to maximising the FW47.
