James Vowles, principal of Williams, continues to sing praises for Carlos Sainz. The Spanish driver made his debut with the FW47 on Friday morning at Silverstone to provide initial feedback on the new single-seater from Grove, after testing the FW46 in Abu Dhabi following the final race of the 2024 season, to assess potential development areas.
Vowles appreciates Sainz’s mechanical sensitivity, as he accurately reports his impressions of the car and how to organize development work, bringing a more top-tier team-like approach to Grove similar to Ferrari.
“His input is felt in many ways. Firstly, he works very well with Alex (Albon), especially when we look at the control systems, so we’re talking about differentials, brakes, start maps, and all elements around this complex start phase,” Vowles said.
“We now have a race-winning expert on board, and that will help the team progress. I can see a change in dimension in our performance: where we were before and where we are now.”
This is not just a statement from James. A concrete example is the steering wheel. Carlos has shown great attention to detail over the years to extract maximum functionality from the controls.
Pictures taken before Sainz hit the track on the filming day at Silverstone show how the Madrid-born driver asked Williams to replicate the exact same clutch paddles he used on the SF-24 last year.
Unlike his former teammate Leclerc, who preferred very long swing arms to release the clutch, the Madrid driver wanted to use two levers and double bidders to insert his fingers in difficult clutch release moments when the lights go out at the start of a GP.
