Carlos Sainz’s arrival at Williams in 2025 goes to trigger the group to must adapt to the best way it really works and might be daunting for the engineering group, in accordance with chief engineer Dave Robson.
Williams pursued Sainz for a variety of months and secured his signature forward of the summer season break, with the three-time race-winner changing Logan Sargeant subsequent 12 months. Sainz will companion Alex Albon from 2025 onwards, with each signing multi-year offers, and Robson says it is going to change the dynamic inside Williams that can imply the group wants to regulate.
“I feel there’s a few issues which might be going to be a little bit bit daunting for us as an engineering group,” Robson stated. “There’s little doubt that it’s nice information for us, and an actual sign of intent, and we’ll undoubtedly make issues higher.
“However I feel Carlos himself, I don’t actually know him as a person, however I do know that he has a status for actually driving everyone very arduous to get every little thing out of the automotive. So he’s going to be demanding I’m certain, which we’d like, however on the identical time I do know from my early time at Williams once we had Felipe [Massa] and Valtteri [Bottas], or earlier than that at McLaren, when you’ve got two drivers who’re pushing one another and combating for the intense points-paying positions, then it turns into rather more tough.
“It’s simply an order of magnitude tougher on the pit wall while you’ve bought two automobiles instantly racing one another. There’s no motive to suppose that it’s going to finish up being dangerous, undoubtedly not, it’s going to finish up being good, however it’s undoubtedly going to be completely different to what we’ve form of bought used to.”
Robson says the primary 12 months working with Sainz earlier than new rules are launched might be essential within the group’s growth to get probably the most out of its driver partnership.
“With a view to 2026 … there’s a load of engineering work to do to grasp the automotive higher and make the automotive sooner, take what we are able to into 2026. However really a number of the training course of subsequent 12 months might be about understanding Carlos himself, remodeling the dynamic of the group trackside – and on the manufacturing facility – to grasp the best way to cope with two drivers who’re competing with one another.
“It’s improbable information, however it’s undoubtedly going to shake us up a bit, in a great way.”
