Williams explain how ‘demanding’ and ‘daunting’ Sainz will help ‘shake us up’ as a team

Carlos Sainz will be “a little bit daunting” for the Williams engineering team when he arrives from Ferrari, reckons Head of Vehicle Performance Dave Robson, who fully expects the Spaniard to be “demanding” of those around him to help push the operation forward.

It was announced earlier this week that Sainz has agreed to join the Grove squad on a multi-year deal running through 2026, ending months of speculation over his F1 future after Ferrari’s decision to replace him with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.

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Sainz will bring race-winning pedigree to Williams, with his F1 CV boasting three victories, five pole positions and 23 podium finishes, having contested almost 200 races across stints at Toro Rosso, Renault, McLaren and the Scuderia.

Moving aside is Logan Sargeant, after the American’s struggles to match the pace of team mate Alex Albon, who recently committed his own future to the James Vowles-led outfit and will partner Sainz for the next few seasons.

Asked about Sainz’s impending arrival in a press call, Robson said: “I think there’s a couple of things that are going to be a little bit daunting for us as an engineering team.

“I think there’s no doubt that it’s great news for us and a real signal of intent and will definitely make things better.

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“I think Carlos himself, I don’t really know him as an individual, but I do know he has a reputation for really driving every… Well, driving everybody very hard to get everything out of the car. He’s going to be demanding, I’m sure, which we need.”

In addition to those off-track demands, Robson – who has experience of working with several high-profile drivers and line-ups across his time at Williams and previously McLaren – expects Sainz’s arrival to impact how Williams go racing.

“I know from my early time at Williams when we had Felipe [Massa] and Valtteri [Bottas], or before that at McLaren, when you have got two drivers who are pushing each other and fighting for the serious points-paying positions, then it becomes much more difficult,” he continued.

“It’s just an order of magnitude, more difficult on the pit wall when you’ve got two cars directly racing each other. There’s no reason to think that it’s going to end up being bad, definitely not, it’s going to end up being good, but it’s definitely going to be different to what we’ve kind of got used to.”

Robson added: “I think with a view to 2026 [and the rule changes], we’ve got to use next year… There’s a load of engineering work to do to understand the car better and make the car faster and take what we can into 2026.

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“A lot of the learning process next year will be about understanding Carlos himself, reworking the dynamic of the team trackside and at the factory, to understand how to deal with two drivers who are competing with each other.

“It’s fantastic news, but it’s definitely going to shake us up a bit – in a good way.”