James Vowles, principal of Williams, continues to praise Carlos Sainz. The Spanish driver was called to make his debut in the FW47 on Friday (2/14/2025) morning at Silverstone, to provide an initial assessment of Grove’s new single-seater seat, after testing the FW46 in Abu Dhabi following the last race of the 2024 season, to give an initial assessment of possible development areas.
Vowles appreciates Sainz’s mechanical sensitivity, who is very precise in reporting impressions of the car and how to set up development work, bringing Grove a mode closer to the top teams like Ferrari.
“His input is very noticeable in some aspects. First, he works very well with Alex (Albon), especially when we look at control systems, so we’re talking about differentials, brakes, start maps, and all the elements around this complicated start phase,” he said.
“Now we have a race-winning expert and that will make the team evolve. I can see a change in dimensions in our performance: where we were before and where we are now,” he added.
Sainz’s attention to detail over the years is not just talk. An example is the steering wheel. Carlos has developed a keen eye for detail over the years to extract maximum functionality from controls.
The image taken before Sainz took to the track at the photoshoot at Silverstone shows how the Madrid-born driver asked Williams to reproduce the exact same clutch fingers he used on the SF-24 last year.
Unlike his former teammate Leclerc, who prefers very long swing arms to release the clutch, the Madrid-born driver wants to use two levers and double clamps to insert his fingers at difficult times to release the clutch when the lights go out at the start of the GP.
