Carlos Sainz set the fastest lap of anyone in Bahrain testing posting a 1:29.348 on Day 2 in Bahrain. Albon set a similarly strong time the following day, posting a 1:29.650 on the C4 tyres.
How Williams made a step forward over winter
Understandably, there is already talk of how competitive Williams are looking in 2025. Sainz’s time was almost a second faster than the Grove squad’s best qualifying time from Bahrain 2024.
Although several factors (track temperature, track evolution, etc.) make direct comparisons difficult, James Vowles’ team have taken a clear step forward over the winter.
In some ways, this is not a massive surprise. Williams were forced to reuse old components at the end of last year’s campaign, due to the significant number of crashes they suffered.
They also introduced very few updates last season, aside from some weight-reducing measures in Zandvoort.
Having started work on 2025 relatively early last year, the British outfit anticipate a reasonable step forward.
Reflecting on his running in Sakhir, Alex Albon was generally content:
“We got a good long run in and a decent lowish performance run style, ending the day with some more long runs. So all in all, I’m positive.
“I do think we need to look at some data with a couple of areas we need to focus on.
“The good thing is, we know where the lap time is and I don’t think it’s that hard to achieve. So we’ll do some work around that and get ready for Melbourne.”
Where do Williams stand in the midfield?
A few areas of improvement are already visible. Already, tyre degradation on the FW47 appears better than its predecessor.
One of their biggest issues in 2024 was switching on the hard tyres. This area seemed improved in testing, with all indications showing that Williams have added downforce to the FW47 over winter.
All in all, James Vowles can be satisfied with his team’s progress on their 2025 challenger.
However, some of the conclusions being drawn from the FW47’s debut are slightly out of proportion. There have been some suggestions, for example, that the Grove-based operation could trouble the top 4 in Australia.
This should not be the expectation heading into the season opener. Williams should be firmly in the midfield battle at round 1.
Even then, the British outfit certainly aren’t the clear favourites in the midfield group. Alpine, for example, were also very solid across the three days of pre-season.
Haas were also competitive, although they didn’t make any headlines with ‘glory runs’ on low fuel. Still, the US outfit’s long-run pace showed a clear step forward from 2024 – and tyre degradation remains under control.
Elsewhere, Aston Martin had a very unique programme. Their decision not to bring any of the softer tyres (C4-C6) to Bahrain was indicative of their decision to emphasise high-fuel running.
Because of this, their headline teams have created some very pessimistic predictions for 2025.
With that said, more detailed analysis suggest Aston Martin could actually be ahead of Williams. Indeed, this is the information relayed by the BBC.
The AMR25 is clearly more stable and aerodynamically efficient than its predecessor. Assuming Aston can piece together the correct set-up (having tested many extremes in Bahrain) they could be in a solid place to begin 2025.
To be clear, Williams should be firmly in the midfield. However, their best times were on relatively low fuel, and should not be used to inflate their actual pace.
