Carlos Sainz faces a big challenge when he joins Williams for the 2025 season, having switched from being at Ferrari and being in contention for race wins.
The Spaniard has already had a taste of what their 2025 challenger will be like having taken to the track at Silverstone for their season launch recently, with their car adorning a camo livery.
Sainz completed an installation lap in the car before going on to complete a few more for Williams, as they did a shakedown of the car ahead of F1 pre-season testing at the end of February.
Discussing his thoughts ahead of the season in a video with Soy Motor, Sainz revealed what his biggest challenge will be in 2025.
Carlos Sainz explains his biggest challenge is readapting to competing in F1 midfield
Driving with Williams will be the first time that Sainz has been at a team that has competed in the midfield since McLaren in 2020, having been in contention for race victories during his time at Ferrari.
Williams’ last race win was with Columbian driver Pastor Maldonado during the 2012 season, and despite a brief period of competitiveness in 2014 and 2015, they have struggled to regularly finish on the podium.
Sainz believes his biggest challenge will be readapting to competing in the midfield, as he will be spending most of his weekends celebrating getting into Q3 rather than podiums.
“I think my biggest challenge will be about the first year, readapting my head and my expectations a bit [and saying] ‘Hey you’re back in the middle of the grid’ – something I haven’t touched for three or four years,” said Sainz.
James Vowles refuses to rule out 2025 podiums
Williams’ 2025 challenger will be a lot faster compared to the FW46, given that it is expected to be an evolution.
James Vowles has refused to rule out podiums in 2025, even if they seem unlikely. Sainz will want to capitalise on any race where the usual front runners or out of contention or that is affected by adverse weather.
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Alpine’s doubler podium at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix showed how this was possible, which enabled them to leapfrog from being ninth to sixth in the Constructors’ Championship.
Vowles has been a key driving force behind bringing Williams back to its glory years, having employed a trick that he learned from Mercedes during their car launch.
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