Williams driver Carlos Sainz has revealed he’s “not stunned” that his Ferrari substitute Lewis Hamilton has struggled to adapt to his new System 1 squad.
The seven-time world champion changed Sainz as Charles Leclerc’s team-mate for 2025, however the Shanghai dash is the one time Hamilton has crushed the Monegasque within the 5 race weekends so far.
Sainz equally struggled towards his new team-mate Alex Albon to start with, as Saudi Arabia final day trip was the primary grand prix he beat his Williams counterpart in.
So, it doesn’t shock the four-time race winner that he and Hamilton have initially struggled towards their team-mates believing it should take time to catch up.
“I am not stunned in any respect,” stated Sainz forward of this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix. “I anticipated it for myself and I anticipated it with him.
“As a result of when you find yourself up towards two team-mates like we’re, Alex and Charles, they know the group inside out, and they’re already performing on the most that that automotive can carry out.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Carlos Sainz, Williams
Picture by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Photos
“So, you possibly can solely do just a bit bit higher or the identical as them. You can’t instantly arrive and be two, three tenths faster, as a result of it isn’t attainable. They’re already on the restrict of the automotive.
“Whenever you bounce to a brand new group and also you’re anticipated by your self and by everybody round you to be at that degree, you recognize it should take time. They know much more than you. It is going to take a little bit of time, and the earlier you make that course of and the earlier you might be at that degree, the higher.”
There are various the reason why Sainz believes endurance is required to turn into as fast as their new team-mates, because the Spaniard claimed there are “15 issues that it’s important to relearn”.
“You can’t think about the quantity of variation, variability simply to make the automotive get to an identical lap time in simply fully alternative ways,” Sainz added.
“I am attempting excessive engine braking in Williams to see if it really works, I am attempting low, I am attempting differential maps, however I am attempting all the pieces each weekend simply to see what the automotive likes and what it would not.
“There’s issues that fit your fashion, others that do not, and I believe it is that battle and that course of that I get pleasure from and that you’ll get fallacious many instances.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Picture by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Photos
“However so long as you get pleasure from it and also you simply embrace it, you recognize you are gonna get it fallacious a number of instances however you are additionally gonna, whenever you click on and also you get the thought, ‘this works,’ it is really a eureka second that feels good.”
Sainz hasn’t but had his “eureka second” but, and warned that it could not come for him or Hamilton anytime quickly.
Actually, the Williams racer stated that studying a brand new group, new automotive and all-new processes might take greater than six months.
“I’ve at all times stated that to know a automotive effectively, you want not less than half a yr to a yr to expertise all the pieces with that automotive,” he added.
“That does not imply that you simply can’t carry out throughout that yr. You possibly can carry out at 100% or 99%, and your 99% would possibly nonetheless be fairly good.
“However the 100% for certain, there are issues that you simply want half a yr, I’d say, to expertise.”
Learn Additionally:
On this article
Owen Bellwood
System 1
Lewis Hamilton
Carlos Sainz
Ferrari
Williams
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