Alex Albon has come to the defence of his Williams teammate Carlos Sainz, who has yet to match his pace in the early 2025 season.
After moving from Ferrari over the off-season, Sainz has surprised some by trailing consistently behind Albon at Williams. "If you expect to see the best of Carlos Sainz in a Williams in the third race and in a new car, then yeah, you don't understand the sport very well," the Spaniard said in Bahrain.
Explaining his difficulties, Sainz admitted he's still driving the Williams as if it were a Ferrari.
"You fall into a trap after years of muscle memory of doing everything that way," he said. "But given how new everything is, for me to be in the same tenth in quali as a guy like Alex, I'm not in a bad place."
Rather than revel in the gap in his favour, Albon—now in his fourth year with the Grove-based outfit—sees potential advantages in Sainz's Ferrari-influenced approach.
"It's interesting to talk to Carlos about these things because these are the habits he's learned, which aren't necessarily bad Ferrari habits," he said. "They're good habits, and it's about trying to see if we can use them in our car."
"Right now, there are some corners I'm talking about that we can't do, and he might have to change the driving style he's used to," Albon continued. "But ultimately, they're going to make the car faster. I think as a team, we're being very good at taking everything into account and understanding what he's saying. It might be a difficult fix for this year, but for next year, we can prioritise certain areas to have a better car."
