F1 News: Carlos Sainz to Drive Williams Without Sponsors Amid Ferrari Contract
Williams has announced an updated plan for Carlos Sainz's first track outing at Yas Marina Circuit following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. While Ferrari has agreed to Williams' request for Sainz to participate in the post-season test, the Maranello team has also permitted the Spanish driver to complete a filming day before the official test.
Sainz will move to Williams in 2025 alongside Alex Albon, replacing interim driver Franco Colapinto. At Ferrari, he makes way for seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who announced his bombshell signing early this year. The Grove outfit, headed by team principal James Vowles, is eager to have Sainz on board since his arrival would make the team's driver lineup a powerful one.
With the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix set for Sunday, 8 December, Autosport reports that Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has permitted Sainz to participate in a filming day on Monday at the Yas Marina Circuit, where he will be driving the 2024 Williams FW46 F1 car, completing 200 kilometers of running, which is around 35 laps of the circuit, before the official test. Following that, Sainz will take part in the post-season test with Williams on Tuesday.
This approval from Ferrari is crucial, as Sainz is still contracted to the Scuderia until the end of 2024, even after the season concludes. As part of his Ferrari contract, Sainz will wear plain race overalls with no sponsor logos during both days of his track sessions with Williams.
Williams’ senior race engineer, Dave Robson revealed what the team plans to achieve with Sainz in the post-season test in Abu Dhabi. He said:
“[There are] two big items for that day, one is obviously Carlos, the other is the 2025 tyres.
“So main thing will be to make sure he’s comfortable in the car and knows his way around, and what we need to change ahead of the real work starting with him and the FW47 in February, so that’s one thing, that’ll probably consume a reasonable part of the day, and on top of that we’ll probably put him through a full set of tyre tests that’s good for him and good for us in terms of understanding Pirelli’s 2025 product.
“Beyond that we’ll see what he’s got to say.
“Obviously he can’t tell us what Ferrari’s up to but he can give us a first impression of where the current car is, and Alex [Albon’s] feedback during the race weekend, and decide based on that if and what we do ahead of February.”