“It’s definitely going to be a big change but nothing that I’m not used to, nothing that I haven’t seen before and [it’s] obviously a good challenge that I am excited for, [to] enjoy and keep [being] patient as much as possible. I feel good, I feel at home, which is important.”
However, when pushed on the challenge posed by using a Mercedes power unit for the first time, Sainz explained: “I can talk a bit about [the post-season test in] Abu Dhabi and how [those] first laps went. Definitely I think [the thing] you feel the most when you change teams, the moment there’s a power unit involved, is the power unit.
GALLERY: Williams present livery for their FW47 at F1 75 Live season launch
“The noises, the vibrations, the sound – everything just changes completely, so even if I went out of the pits trying to understand the aerodynamics and the tyres and the feeling on the mechanical side of the car on the aero, the only thing I had to adapt in the first few laps was how different a power unit can be, so that’s probably the biggest change.
“Also the way the power unit operates in terms of switches, switch changes which nowadays in Formula 1 with so much going on our steering wheels with the deployment, the battery, things like this, safety procedures of the engine and the power unit – it’s all definitely the biggest change that I’m having to adapt [to] so far in Williams.”
In terms of how long it may take for him to adjust to the FW47, Sainz admitted that having only limited chances to do testing means that the process takes more time.
