Carlos Sainz has identified the major performance gaps between his current Williams FW47 and his previous Ferrari cars, illustrating the challenges he faces after switching teams for the 2024 Formula 1 season. The Spaniard’s insights shed light on why the FW47 struggles, particularly as Williams prepares to tackle future regulations.
Sainz Highlights the Need for Major Design Overhaul at Williams
Despite being one of the standout drivers of the 2024 F1 season, Carlos Sainz’s transition from Ferrari to Williams has been difficult, as shown by his point tally lagging behind teammate Alex Albon’s. Ferrari’s decision to replace Sainz with Lewis Hamilton before the season prompted the Spaniard to find a new seat, ultimately signing with Williams to race alongside Albon.
Adjusting to the FW47 has proved challenging, as the car’s unique handling quirks and the complications introduced by current ground-effect regulations have created a steep learning curve for Sainz. Early in the year, he predicted it would take months before he could feel truly comfortable behind the wheel.
His qualifying performance in Hungary, where he outqualified Albon and finished ahead, indicated gradual progress. Yet, the weekend also revealed how starkly different the Williams feels compared to Ferrari, exposing crucial areas where the FW47 falls short.
Sainz explained that the differences between Ferrari’s power unit and the Mercedes engine powering Williams were particularly distinct. This was echoed by Lewis Hamilton, who has noted similar contrasts since moving in the opposite direction.
The way you use the gears, the downshifts, how it goes into engine braking… the transition from the brake migration to the engine braking is different, and you have to change your driving style, for sure,
Sainz said.
In contrast to former Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc’s pole position in Hungary, Sainz’s 13th place start allowed him to provide Williams with pointed observations about the FW47’s shortcomings on demanding circuits.
Obviously I’m coming from the team that was on pole, then going back to a team that was P13 yesterday with me, and I could give them very strong feedback on why this car is lagging around a track like this,
he stated.
His main critique centers on the car’s aerodynamics in long corners. According to Sainz, the FW47 struggles to maintain downforce from entry through mid-corner, a problem that has persisted for several seasons.
Conversely, Williams performs better on circuits with long straights and tight, short corners. This explains the relative gains seen at some circuits compared to the significant drop-off at tracks featuring extended, flowing corners such as Barcelona, Hungary, and Qatar.
Sainz emphasized that a substantial revision in Williams’ design philosophy will be critical for the future.
We’re trying to understand where and what to change to make sure the next year’s car is a bit more of an all-rounder and gives us a better platform to work at multiple tracks.
Williams Rays of Hope Amid Ongoing Development Challenges
Despite a tough debut season, Sainz expressed satisfaction with the collaboration developing between himself, teammate Alex Albon, and team principal James Vowles. They share a common vision for advancing the team, especially with 2026’s new technical regulations looming.
I think it’s been a very strong start to our time together in terms of the way we want to develop the team, the car, the interaction with Alex, with James, we are honestly all very aligned and very optimistic moving forward,
Sainz remarked.
However, progress this year has been limited by rules restricting development of the FW47 mid-season. This has prevented the team from addressing the car’s distinct weaknesses while trying to capitalize on its strengths.
So it’s not like we can exploit the feedback of the two drivers and the intentions that we have to develop this car what we need, because we are not putting it in the wind tunnel to develop so that’s where next year is going to be a lot more challenging for the team and for ourselves to see if we can actually improve the main weaknesses of this car. That is clear.
Williams currently sits fifth in the Constructors’ Championship, a solid position achieved after years of being near the back of the grid. Vowles has chosen to prioritize preparations for the sweeping rule changes set for 2026 rather than invest more in developing the FW47 for the remainder of this season.
While the team’s trajectory is positive, Vowles stops short of declaring a full turnaround, acknowledging ongoing challenges.
Generally moving in the right way,
the team boss summarized.
Sainz Focuses on Consistency as 2024 Winds Down
Acknowledging the limitations of the current car, Sainz revealed that his immediate goal is to optimize race weekend execution rather than pushing for aerodynamic or setup gains when none are realistically available.
From my side, in the short term, I’ll just focus on weekend executions. There’s nothing really we can do to the aero or to the setup of the car,
he said after the Hungarian Grand Prix.
He experimented with several setups during the Hungary weekend before reverting to a configuration that had previously worked well in Miami, Imola, and early races, which allowed him to qualify strongly relative to the car’s potential.
Still, the team has been outpaced at certain tracks that do not favor the FW47’s current strengths.
But, if we had had a clean weekend like this at Spa, Miami, and Imola, we would have scored a lot of points.
Looking ahead, Sainz aims to maintain consistency in setup and race performance to close out his first season with Williams, hoping that the lessons learned now will pave the way for a stronger car and results in 2025 and beyond.
