When you concentrate on it, Carlos Sainz Jr. calling his first laps within the Williams FW47 “easy” simply is smart.
Williams launched the FW47, the group’s challenger for the 2025 Formulation 1 season, at a particular occasion at Silverstone on Friday, the location of the British Grand Prix. The group unveiled the FW47 in a bespoke one-off livery that the group will use at this season’s British Grand Prix and can debut their principal look subsequent week at F1’s first-ever season launch occasion at The O2 in London.
Following the revealing, each Sainz and teammate Alexander Albon put the FW47 by a shakedown session, with Sainz driving within the morning and Albon within the afternoon. Whereas February at Silverstone doesn’t supply up the best testing situations, Williams and Albon reported that the solar did peek by the clouds after lunch for his time within the cockpit.
Williams Workforce Principal James Vowles praised the “progress” the group has made this low season, in addition to Williams’ “formidable” driver lineup.
“The primary run of the FW47 is the results of tens of 1000’s of hours of labor and a second of immense pleasure that symbolises the progress we’re making at Atlassian Williams Racing,” mentioned Vowles within the group’s media report. “We rolled out the automobile on the exact second we mentioned we might, on dwell tv, with a formidable new driver line-up and a unbelievable new title companion in Atlassian. There’s a lot to sit up for in 2025 and I can’t wait to go racing subsequent month.”
Chief Engineer Dave Robson provided some technical suggestions, noting that the FW47 and its programs are “behaving as meant” and that the group was capable of full the deliberate program with out situation.
“At present we launched the FW47 at Silverstone and had the chance to shakedown the brand new automobile and to test that the programs are behaving as meant.
“Carlos and Alex shared the driving by the day, and between them had been capable of full the permitted 200km with out situation. The automobile ran effectively and, having accomplished a couple of cautious laps to test that every part was working accurately, we had been capable of push the automobile laborious and ensure that there have been no main issues,” continued Robson. “Inevitably, we discovered a couple of very minor points, however these will probably be rapidly resolved earlier than we arrive in Bahrain, they usually didn’t have an effect on the working at this time.
“Within the chilly situations, and utilizing the Pirelli promotional tires, it’s not possible to evaluate the efficiency of the FW47, nevertheless, the telemetry and driver suggestions means that the fundamental traits of the automobile are very near expectation and there aren’t any rapid dealing with considerations.”
Robson believes Friday’s session places Williams on a path to reach in Melbourne for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on the entrance foot.
“We now have a couple of days to make use of the expertise from at this time to [finalize] our testing plan for Bahrain,” added Robson. “Now that we’re assured that the automobile will run effectively, we’re in a terrific place to maximise our time in Bahrain and to make sure that we arrive in Melbourne prepared to start out the 2025 season strongly.”
Each drivers had been overwhelmingly constructive of their post-session reviews.
“I’m actually blissful,” mentioned Albon. “Usually this climate makes the automobile really feel good, and it did at this time. We gained’t know for positive what the automobile is like till Bahrain, however the automobile was dependable, and we placed on a terrific present for our companions and followers, so I hope everybody loved that. Roll on Bahrain!”
Then there may be Sainz, who joined the group following his departure from Ferrari, led to by Lewis Hamilton’s beautiful determination to go away Mercedes and be a part of the Scuderia for the 2025 marketing campaign. Sainz, who has earned the nickname “Easy Operator” over his time within the sport, had this to say in regards to the first laps within the FW47:
“The primary 100 kilometers within the FW47 are achieved and it has been a easy day. We managed to finish all of the run plan with none points, and I acquired my first correct feeling for the automobile,” mentioned Sainz. “It was a daring assertion from Williams to indicate the primary lap of this new automobile to our companions, the media, and our followers, and it went very effectively. Good job to everybody again at Grove – now we’re prepared for the season to start out.”