Alex Albon has revealed that Carlos Sainz’s arrival at Williams from Ferrari has reminded him of his own experience moving to the team from a leading rival in Formula 1.
Albon is embarking upon his fourth season with Williams with an alternative presence in the opposite garage in 2025 as the team has welcomed four-time race winner Sainz.
Sainz has entered the Williams fold with proven pedigree having racked up 90 F1 race starts with a Ferrari team that ended the previous campaign as a title contender.
The Grove-based squad is hoping that the Spaniard’s strong track record will translate to his new environment amid the ambition to build a championship-winning setup.
But Sainz is not alone in having garnered knowledge about how a top team operates as Albon’s current period with Williams has succeeded an 18-month stint with Red Bull.
Albon has admitted that hearing Sainz talk through the deficiencies of the Williams car versus the Ferrari has drawn parallels to how his spell with the team began in 2022.
Put to him that he could become an even better driver with Sainz alongside him, Albon told select media including Motorsport Week in Bahrain: “For sure.
“I think that he’s got a lot of experience and he’s very good at communicating what he feels in the car and the directions that he feels the car needs to go in.
“I think in many ways it reminds me a little bit like my time at Red Bull coming here.
“You kind of understand and you feel what your car did before and where immediately the car that you’re driving now is missing.
“Even these last few days I think he’s been able to kind of understand that and get the car into a pretty good place.”
Albon and Sainz on the same wavelength
Williams is going into the upcoming season in a much stronger position compared to 12 months ago amid the consensus that it could be leading a tight midfield pack.
Albon has disclosed that both he and Sainz have been on an identical wavelength regarding their feedback to the engineers about the team’s 2025 machine, the FW47.
“I think he’s got up to speed relatively comfortably with the car,” he added. “But it’s good; we’re talking the same language, we have the same feedback.
“The team are doing well, we’re responding well to solutions and whatnot. So far, so good.”
Sainz’s Williams adaptation has been ‘mind-blowing’
Williams boss James Vowles, who headed the pursuit to acquire Sainz’s signature, has expressed that his new recruit’s adaptation to the team has exceeded expectations.
“The rate he got up to speed was mind-blowing,” Vowles told talkSPORT at F1 75.
“His feedback is more concise than I expected. He has the ability with just a few words to bring our team to absolute celebration.”
READ MORE – Alex Albon: Williams FW47 car to receive limited updates amid 2026 F1 focus
