Williams has confirmed its incoming 2025 driver Carlos Sainz Jnr will drive for them in next month’s post-season test in Abu Dhabi.
Sainz is set to join the team at the end of the season after being replaced for next season at Ferrari by Lewis Hamilton.After several months of negotiations with multiple teams over where he would drive in 2025, Williams eventually announced in July that Sainz would join the team to race alongside Alexander Albon. As a Ferrari driver, it has been expected that Sainz would not be able to begin his tenure at Williams until his Ferrari contract expires at the end of the year.
However, Williams has now announced that Sainz will be able to participate in the post-Abu Dhabi Grand Prix test taking place just days after the final round of the season at the Yas Marina circuit. It will be his first time behind the wheel of a Williams.
“This early opportunity will allow both Carlos and Williams to begin building their relationship,” Williams said in an statement.
“The test session will provide a valuable chance for Carlos to begin integrating into his new team environment, and he will drive the FW46 for the first time. Carlos will drive for Williams alongside Alexander Albon in 2025, forming one of the most formidable driver line-ups on the grid.”
Sainz is completing his final three rounds as a Ferrari driver over the coming month ahead. He has raced for the Scuderia for the last four seasons, scoring four grand prix victories including two this season. His most recent win came just weeks ago in Mexico.
Williams are currently sitting in ninth place in the constructors’ championship. They were locked in a battle with Alpine and sat in eighth place in the standings before Alpine’s double-podium finish dropped them down a position.
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An Sionnach
15th November 2024, 16:52
I would suggest that since Sainz is prone to being intimidated and Albon being raced so hard, that this line-up is about as formidable as Scooby-Doo.
Coventry Climax
15th November 2024, 17:03
The Scooby-Duo!
SPArtacus
15th November 2024, 20:05
lolol “He raced me so hard” will always be one of the funniest radio messages ever.
Anyway, I know it seems like most aren’t, but I’m very excited to see Sainz at Williams. I think he would have scored a lot more points in this year’s car than Albon and I expect next year’s car to be much better. And, if the Merc PU and gearbox are really good in 2026, it could be a great season. It’s no coincidence that two of the most unpredictable cars, the Mercedes and Aston, share the same gearbox + RS (McLaren make their own gearbox + rear suspension) while two of the most improved cars, the Ferrari and Haas, whose tire wear and handling have improved symmetrically, share the same gearbox and RS. The gearbox shell or “suspension carrier” is a stressed component critical to handling.
An Sionnach
15th November 2024, 21:23
I hope Carlos does well. I’m still not sure what to make of him, but there’s definitely a good driver in there somewhere, and, unlike most of the current grid, he’s also smart. I scratch my head when he goes from a brilliant win to floundering around being intimidated by all sorts of things, including other drivers and the rain.
João
15th November 2024, 18:14
It shows how far Williams has sunk that this will be their first proper driver pair since Massa/Bottas, but at the same time it’s still two #2 caliber drivers.
SPArtacus
15th November 2024, 20:13
Just because Sainz isn’t one of the five best drivers in F1 doesn’t mean he’s a #2 driver. He’s a very good lead driver. Meanwhile, the big vaunted Audi project couldn’t even get their 2-5 options and Alpine’s lineup is Gasly and Doohan… So, they’re not doing too bad for a team that is rebuilding.
Frank
16th November 2024, 9:08
He may not have the same star quality, but I would say there are only two drivers who are certainly better than him. There is obviously Verstappen and after four seasons, we can safely say Leclerc also has the upper hand on him.
After that there are some contenders who might or might not be better atm.
– Norris? Was already close to him at McLaren and might have improved since then.
– Alonso and Hamilton? At their peak, obviously yes, but who can possibly tell now?
– Russell? Fact in Q, but consistently outraced by Hamilton.
– Piastri? Flashes of brilliance but reliably behind Norris.
– Hulk? Had Sainz covered as team mate, but Sainz seems to have matured a lot whilst Hulkenberg is getting older.
Objectively ranking that set is incredibly hard, even if you include Leclerc in there.
Some others on the grid might semi-regularly beat Sainz on a weekend but not across a season.
SPArtacus
18th November 2024, 2:15
I’d say 2023 showed Alonso and Hamilton would still crush Sainz head-to-head in the same car. Besides Max, no one has a larger share of the team’s points % wise than FA once again. LH is having a tough 2024 but he’s still only 2 points behind GR. So, despite their age, I don’t see any definitive evidence that Sainz has surpassed either of F1’s elder statesmen yet. In Lewis’ case, we’ll soon know how CS and LH currently stack up.
I agree with your overall sentiment though, besides CL, MV, FA and LH, he would surely match or beat any of the other drivers. Lando might have more pure speed, but he has none of Carlos’ race craft which includes wheel to wheel racing, strategic intelligence and toughness. All of which the highly lauded Norris lacks (even if far less lauded of late).
If you include Russell, it means Sainz is somewhere around the 5th-6th best driver on the grid at worst. So, not sure how one could fault Williams for being very confident in him.
Alonslow
15th November 2024, 19:13
Williams is on some good stuff.
MichaelN
15th November 2024, 21:56
Yeah, but… there are a lot of question marks over some other line-ups.
Leclerc/Hamilton should be (much) stronger. Norris/Piastri as well.
Then it becomes more iffy.
Pérez is a huge liability. Antonelli is an unknown. Stroll is only rarely F1 worthy. Doohan and Bortoleto are more question marks.
Tsunoda and Lawson aren’t that impressive, and Ocon and Bearman are probably the most equal match but I’d still put Williams in front on Sainz’ strengths.
SPArtacus
15th November 2024, 22:15
We’ve seen how consistent Norris is and Piastri is pretty weak. So, if the Ferrari is as good or better than the McLaren, they’ll have little chance. If we assume Lewis can be at least as good as his 2023 form, it’ll be easily the strongest lineup. Ferrari is quite literally the only team with a notably strong pairing. I wonder if we’ll ever a pairing anywhere close to the likes of Alonso/Hamilton and Senna/Prost ever again.
Frank
16th November 2024, 9:21
Would be great, but incredibly unlikely.
Bear in mind that no one knew in 2007 that two all-time greats would be team mates. Even whilst forming the Senna/Prost combo, only one of them was already WDC
Of the other great-on-paper combos, most turned out very one-sided after all. Alonso-Raikkonen was a rout. Prost dominated Mansell (and Rosberg and Lauda). In earlier times, Moss was no match for Fangio and Hill no match for Clark.
SPArtacus
18th November 2024, 2:16
That’s a good point. Their pairing a was freak occurrence.
dot_com (@dot_com)
16th November 2024, 14:13
I actually think it’s a great line up at Williams. Especially now that so several other teams will be running rookies next year. Obviously Williams have not had a good pairing for a LONG time, and Albon is still a little unknown because of the lack of competitive team mate. But I’ve always rated Sainz really highly and I think he’ll do well at Williams. I would say that as it stands for 2025, the only stronger driver pairings are at Ferrari and McLaren, the others are pretty uninspiring.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
16th November 2024, 15:13
It’ll be a “what have I done?” moment when he goes out in an FW45 the day after racing a Ferrari.
Maybe the folks at Williams are throwing the kitchen sink at next year’s car. Or maybe they’re not, and most of the effort is on 2026 – it’s the big decision every team has to make.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
16th November 2024, 21:45
its only up for williams at this point. what ever is knocking them out of the points almost every race might come to a conclusion if everyone is onboard with the right attitude. its clear they are closer to midpack then the aft at this point. alpine are kinda meh, looking for more money to finish off 25 it looks like. audi might be shockingly better next year if they bring in some good leadership.
SPArtacus
18th November 2024, 2:19
If the teams are adhering to the rules and that’s a big if, they are not allowed to start heavily committing resources to the 2026 design until 2025. So, there’s no reason to think any of the teams won’t have heavily evolved cars next year.