Sainz aims to improve the balance of his new car
Having completed his first official appearance with Williams, Carlos Sainz was left impressed with the performance of his new car, but he targets to find a better balance in the remainder of pre-season testing.
McLaren driver Lando Norris ended up quickest on the opening day of F1 pre-season testing in Bahrain, narrowly beating George Russell, reigning champion Max Verstappen and Ferrari racer Charles Leclerc.
The first day of running was bizarrely halted by a power cut midway through the afternoon session, with the circuit-wide power outage having caused the session to be red-flagged for over an hour as the paddock and garages descended into darkness. Once power was restored, the session was extended by an extra hour to compensate for the lost running.
Having sat out the opening part of the day, Lando Norris quickly found his way to the sharp end of the field, posting a time of 1m30.430s. It was 0.157s quicker than what Mercedes’ George Russell managed.
Reigning world champion Max Verstappen was a couple of tenths adrift in third for Red Bull, but his long-run pace looked impressive.
Having made the switch from Ferrari to Williams, Carlos Sainz completed a positive opening day in Bahrain, ending up fifth fastest behind his former team-mate Charles Leclerc.
"Overall, it was a positive first day for the team, especially given some of the track stoppages we had with the blackout. We managed to complete the run plan, and we got in a lot of laps which is always the main target of the first day.
"First impressions are positive but obviously between now and the next couple of days, we’ll try to improve the balance of the car in both short and long runs," concluded the Spaniard.
His new team-mate Alexander Albon highlighted some issues with the new car, insisting that the Grove-based outfit will need to find a less sensible setup.
"It was an okay day today. We still have a few things to work on, but our base car feels pretty sensible. This is what Testing’s about, trying to understand the systems and whether there are things we need to address.
"We’ve made a few changes to the car which is positive. As a team, we’ve had a couple of opportunities to run the car already this year so that’s a good thing - but as drivers, we always wish we had more time. All in all though, it was good to get out there!"
First official smooth operation 👊 pic.twitter.com/gP4tIUq1M0
— Atlassian Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) February 26, 2025
Williams' chief engineer Dave Robson commented: "It’s always good to finally get a new car to the track and begin to understand how the performance and personality of the car compares to expectation. We have worked hard during the FW47 development period to resolve the weaknesses of last year’s car and to ensure that FW47 is competitive in a broad range of conditions.
"Carlos’ feedback from driving last year’s car in Abu Dhabi confirmed that we were focused on the right areas but only today could we begin the process of understanding whether that focus has been rewarded.
"Conditions were cool and gusty all day, and whilst not necessarily representative of how the weather will be when we return here for the Grand Prix next month, they are quite useful conditions in which to push the car and to explore its consistency.
"The car ran reliably all day allowing both drivers to get some valuable experience in the it. Based on their experience today, and using the data we collected from over 700km of smooth running, we will plan the final two days of pre-season testing.
"Carlos will continue in the car tomorrow before Alex takes over for the final day on Friday. There is inevitably a lot of work left to be done in a short space of time, however, we have had a good start and are in a position to push the car harder over the next two days."
