Joy for Carlos Sainz? Williams gains uncovered in F1 testing data analysis

Carlos Sainz and Williams to start F1 2025 as best of the rest?

Williams ended the 2024 season in the shadows as direct rivals such as Haas, Alpine, Racing Bulls and even Sauber finished the year scoring points while the Grove-based team finished the last five races with zero points, finishing ninth in the Constructors’ Championship.

However, in the short pre-season in Bahrain the team led by James Vowles seems to have made a clear step forward with the new Williams FW47.

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Carlos Sainz was the fastest driver during pre-season testing with a lap time of 1:29.438. Of course, no top team went in search of performance and if they had, they would have beaten this lap time.

Still, the telemetry data shows that the FW47 is a car with good aerodynamic efficiency on the straights, but still struggles to find grip on slow-speed corners as we can see in the following graph compared to Lewis Hamilton’s brand new Ferrari SF-25.

Williams seem to be solid on one lap performance.

Sainz’s team-mate Alexander Albon set a fast lap time on the C4 tyre on the last day of pre-season.

Compared to George Russell with the Mercedes W16, we can observe the same trend: good straight-line speed, but a noticeable difference at low speeds in Sector 2 against a better car overall.

The FW47 seems to have a certain ease in making the softer compounds work in the optimal operating window.

However, it struggles more with the harder tyres in the long runs.

Although Williams have not completed a full race simulation, we have performance data that allows us to evaluate and interpret the difference in pace compared to the teams aiming to lead the grid in the new season.

It is very likely that Sainz ran with less fuel than the other drivers who did their proper race simulation.

However, his pace during his eight laps on the C3 tyre on the second day of testing was very consistent and solid. He did four eight-lap stints with this compound, trying different settings but with a good feeling overall.

As we have already mentioned, with the C2 tyre the Williams FW47 seems to be clearly off the pace of the top teams.

Even so, within the midfield pace, the Grove team seems to be in a very good starting position together with Alpine and Racing Bulls, even a small step ahead of them.

Like Sainz, Albon didn’t complete a race simulation either.

But like the Spanish driver, Albon was able to do a couple of runs with a heavier fuel tank on the final day of testing to evaluate his pace on the C3 tyre and the C1 tyre in this case.

Again, we can observe this trend of good performance with the medium tyre clearly ahead of the performance of Esteban Ocon’s Haas, but obviously far away from McLaren and one step behind Mercedes.

And the same situation with the C1 tyre: far from the leading pace, but more than three tenths per lap on average faster than Ocon on a day track grip was particularly poor.

While there are many doubts about the relative differences between McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes, everything seems a little clearer in the middle of the grid.

Williams seems to have an extra point of potential ahead of Alpine and Racing Bulls while Aston Martin, Sauber and Haas seem to be a step behind these three teams.

In fact, only Alpine and Williams have been able to beat their lap times from last year’s qualifying in Bahrain, and very clearly so.

Positive signs from both, but especially from the Grove-based team, who with Sainz and Albon want to consolidate their early position as the fifth-best team and be in the fight for points on a regular basis.

While most eyes will be on the fight between the four teams at the top of the grid, the midfield also promises to provide an interesting and exciting fight.

The development race will be crucial and although many teams are also looking ahead to 2026, they cannot afford to lose any focus to win this season’s battles.