Roberto Merhi, the former Manor F1 driver, has been spotted in the Williams garage in Bahrain as a member of Carlos Sainz’s inner circle.

Sainz is preparing for his first season as a Williams driver in F1 2025, having arrived at the Grove-based team from Ferrari over the winter.

Roberto Merhi spotted in Carlos Sainz ‘gang’ at Williams

The four-time race winner shared driving duties with team-mate Alex Albon on the opening day of pre-season testing in Bahrain, completing a total of 68 laps and setting the fifth-fastest time of the day behind the wheel of the FW47 car.

Sainz is set to spend the entire second day in the Williams on Thursday before handing the car over to Albon tomorrow (Friday).

The former Ferrari driver is regularly joined by his entourage – including his father, the rallying legend Carlos Sainz Sr, and his cousin and manager Carlos Onoro – on F1 race weekends.

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Sainz has seemingly welcomed a new member to his inner circle with Merhi, who made 13 F1 starts for the now-defunct Manor team in 2015, Sainz’s debut season, spotted in the Williams garage in Bahrain.

Merhi, who now competes in the Super GT series, is believed to be a close friend of Sainz’s with the pair often pictured together away from the track.

Spotting Merhi during the live television coverage of pre-season testing, the renowned pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz said: “I was waiting to see what the Sainz influence would be at Williams in terms of the mood and the vibe.

“What I found interesting was that not only have you got Carlos Sainz Sr, fresh off the Dakar Rally, at the back of the garage with a headset on, but also interesting is the influence of Roberto Merhi.

“He has a secondary position as a mate of Sainz’s. He’s always around the place with Sainz Sr.

“Merhi is not just standing and watching. He’s actually talking to the engineers, understanding a lot, acting as a second pair of eyes for Sainz to understand the car and the way that Williams work.

“He can be of use to Sainz as well as just his mate.

“I wonder if Williams are allowing Sainz more latitude than he was used to at Ferrari, when the drivers’ gangs were kept more separate from the engineers.”

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Alex Brundle, the racing driver and son of the respected F1 pundit Martin Brundle, welcomed the presence of Merhi in the Williams garage, claiming that he could prove useful to Sainz as he adapts to his new team.

He explained: “It’s interesting to allow drivers to have a second set of eyes in the paddock.

“If there is a driver who is a trusted friend, an ally, a countryman and not a threat to you, he can be there in the garage to help.

“It does help to have a mate at the back of the garage, as it does to have an ally in the engineering room, to give an outside perspective.”

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