Williams
General
Why an experienced driver is really an advantage over rookies
- Ludo van Denderen
The 2025 season is going to be very different, with four rookies, alongside Liam Lawson, a driver who has yet to have a full season in Formula 1 to his name, gearing up for the upcoming campaign. But there have been plenty of years when only a few, if any, young talents were allowed to advance to the premier class of motorsport. Experience over talent was the usual opinion, and there is a good explanation for that says Williams team principal James Vowles.
Carlos Sainz has only been in the employ of Williams for a few weeks and his impact is already enormous, or so you hear from the British team. Admittedly, in the honeymoon period, everything is smooth sailing. If there had been a rookie in the car at Williams, it would now be said that the youngster would be picking it up so well and is really making enormous steps.
Still, the words of team boss James Vowles - who had huge amounts of praise for Sainz - are not to be underestimated. His statements echo what many teams in the sport think: To make strides forward on the grid, you need drivers in F1 who are full of experience and know almost every trick in the book. Drivers like Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, and therefore Carlos Sainz.
Sainz brings a "dimensional change" to Williams
Especially in the technical field, Sainz has given Williams new insights and knows how to adapt quickly. About the Spaniard's implementation in his team, Vowles said to, among others GPblog: "It brings a whole new dimension, whereas with Franco [Colapinto], for all of his skill in the car, obviously, we were almost teaching him along the way what the control systems do.
"We now have an expert in it that has won races, and that's really brought the team upwards. Same with starts. Think of all the ancillary items, so not even driving the car. I can just see a dimensional change in how we're performing from where we were before to where we are today," Vowles said.
Williams able to make comparisons from 2024
In hindsight, the Williams boss said it was smart to let Sainz test with the team already after the last Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi. "It was incredibly useful and powerful having him testing with us in Abu Dhabi because we were able to understand where our weaknesses lie relative to a car he'd driven just a few days before that had winning potential, and more importantly, make sure that the direction of travel that we're in, which I'm pleased to say is correct and on the right pathway."
According to Vowles, Sainz's arrival has done something else important to the team. "I see an organisation around me that is smiling, happy, its shoulders lifted because they can see a pathway forward towards success, and that very much has Carlos's and Alex's names just all over it, so that's what he brings to it [having experienced drivers]," Vowles concluded.
This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy
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