Williams have been the stars of the show in the 2025 F1 season, and coming into his home race in Barcelona, Carlos Sainz is hoping for a strong result despite the track not working for the FW47 on paper.
The 2025 season has marked a turning point for Williams, moving from the back of the grid to consistently fighting in the top ten. Carlos Sainz has been shocked by the progress. Moving from Ferrari to Williams and yet still fighting at the front of the grid.
Barcelona also comes with the added pressure of being Sainz’ home race. While the cheers are louder from the crowd and the support is higher. It also comes with added pressure to perform. Sainz has admitted that he hopes to impress the fans this weekend.
He told media on Thursday, “But I’m happy to be here. Good vibes yesterday in the fan forum, getting a lot of support from the home crowd here. I don’t know, it just always gives me good vibes. It puts you in a good mood, and the whole weekend makes you keep a smile on your face everywhere you go.”
“Just hearing people cheer for you is the best feeling. To have a home race and get to have it every year—I feel very happy about it. And, yeah, I just want to go out there this weekend, enjoy it, and try to give them a good result and a good show.”
Car performance
The FW47 has been an impressive midfield car in the early stages of the season, getting Alex Albon into the top five and collecting the team their biggest haul of points in years. However, Barcelona is a different track and its characteristics don’t fit the William’s machinery on paper.
Sainz said, “If I had to design a track for the FW47, it wouldn’t look like Barcelona. We don’t tend to like medium-speed, long-duration corners. But I’m hopeful. It’s a track where we can also show the progress that we’ve made over the last few years. Apparently, the team was P19 and P20 here last year. We haven’t reached Q3 since 2020, Q2 since 2021. That kind of speaks to the kind of track we’re facing this weekend.”
He did acknowledge that the car taking a step forward this season gives reason for hope. “But I’m confident that this year’s car is a step better in all these corners, and we’re going to show better performance.”
Barcelona has been one of Sainz’ best tracks, and with his own grandstand around the circuit. Sainz was happy to be in a position where, even on a bad weekend with Williams, points may still be on the table.
He said, “Barcelona might be a weekend where a P9 and P10 is a good result. We need to keep that in mind. I think we’re heading into our most challenging track since China. A lot of new things to look into with the change of regulation. So we’re going to need to keep a good eye on how the weekend develops and see if we can perform at a good level. I’m confident we can, but on paper, it’s not the best track.”
Regulation changes
There has been a regulation change for Barcelona, with the FIA making changes with the flexing of wings. But, Sainz didn’t see this change as having a major impact on teams.
“I don’t think it’s going to affect teams and people as much as people think or as much as is being made about this change of regulation. It’s still a front wing and still will be, just obviously run a bit stiffer, and it will not flex as much as it did. I wouldn’t expect more than one-tenth swing up or down through the field for each team, depending on how much you were flexing or not.”
One of the biggest impacts of the change, with the stiffer wings, will be the balance in the cars. This was something that Sainz recognised this. But he admitted F1 teams are too prepared to be caught out.
“I also think nowadays we have a lot of tools—mechanically and aerodynamically—to tune these cars. So even if it’s going to be more of a challenge, we still have three practice sessions to see where the car is at in FP1 and take steps to fine-tune it and get it back to a decent place.”
“You can imagine teams also in the simulator have been running endless laps just with a new wing. Nowadays, F1 teams are too well-prepared, in that sense, to be caught out by this kind of change.”
