Sainz ‘unlearning Ferrari habits’ as he adjusts to Williams F1 car

Williams driver Carlos Sainz says he is expecting to adapt to his new Formula 1 car within “five to 10” races while he tweaks his driving style.

Sainz joined Alex Albon at Williams after four years at Ferrari and has thus far had two low-key weekends for his new team in Australia and China, grabbing his first point of the campaign in Shanghai after others were disqualified. A large part of Sainz’s deficit to high-flying Albon, who has already scored 16 points, stems from finding it tricky to extract the maximum out of the Williams over one lap, qualifying well behind his team-mate.

Sainz isn’t particularly worried by his slower than expected adaptation to a new style of car, revealing he has had to unlearn years of muscle memory built up driving vastly different Ferraris, which means he is now having to change his driving style to get the most out of the Williams.

“I was used to a certain type of car at Ferrari which made me end up driving, especially since 2022, in a very specific way to extract everything about that car,” Sainz explained in Japan. “You fall into habits in your driving that then you apply to the next car, and it might work in some corners but in other it makes you very weak. That’s probably a bit of it and then there’s also a side of set-up that can help me drive the way I like.

“I’ll be trying some different stuff here with my driving and different compromises with car set-up and see if they work. And if not, it’s back to the drawing board, to try different things until we find where that lap time is.”

Sainz said having to fight his instinct and change his driving style yet again at his fifth F1 squad is “the biggest challenge” a driver can face, but added he is relishing it so far.

Carlos Sainz, Williams

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

“From a driving perspective, the biggest challenge that you can have is to relearn a bit the way to approach a corner because you have a certain level of muscle memory, and especially under pressure in qualifying you tend to go back to the way you drive,” the Spaniard said.

“It’s something that takes time and lot of effort from a mental and driving perspective, but it’s a challenge that I’ve always enjoyed and managed to get on top of in all my career. I’ve driven five different cars, different sets of regulations, and probably two races are still not enough to understand that. The car has completely different strengths and weaknesses to the car that I used to be driving for three years.”

Sainz gave a rather philosophical answer when asked how long he believes it will take to get to 100%, but has set the target of getting fully up to speed well before the summer break. “It depends how far away it is from your natural driving style, and also what you consider as being 100%.

“If your 100% is to close your eyes and you’re just naturally quick, then it takes even more than a year to get to that point.

“If your 100% is just to perform at a very high level in Formula 1, which is where I want to get to as soon as possible, that for me should take less than half a year; five to 10 races. And that’s what I am expecting and targeting myself to be as soon as I get to different kinds of tracks, surfaces and grip levels.”

Additional reporting by Erwin Jaeggi