Carlos Sainz believes - in his own words - that the 2025 season will be more of a transition year, admitting that it takes "about six months" to properly get accustomed to a car, something he knows well as he has been in five teams now, debuting with Williams this year. The prospect of another win or podium for the 30-year-old Spaniard are admittedly low, but nevertheless he still managed to get the fastest lap in the second day of testing in Bahrain.
Unlike most of the teams, Sainz stayed at the car all day, during the morning and afternoon sessions. Despite some complications due to incessant rain, including a spin, he made the best time at the circuit: 1m 29.348s, 0.031s clear faster than Lewis Hamilton in Ferrari.
"We did some progress relative to yesterday, improving the balance of the car and improving the overall feeling with the car", Sainz said. Despite the pride of doing the best time in Day 2 of testing (something he also did last year with Ferrari), Carlos feels that he didn't have time to do enough testing, as the next time he gets behind the wheel of the Williams' car will be in Australia, on March 14. "I wish we could try a lot more things but this is Formula 1 nowadays. Anyway, I feel as ready as I can be with a day and a half of testing, and we will try and push flat-out in Australia".